Here's what it used to look like in case you need a refresher:
In lieu of my A Little Bit of Randomness segment I do every Friday I want to take some time to remember my grandma who passed away on Thanksgiving evening. Those who knew her well called her Ohney and this name was given to her because my brother was unable to say Eleanor. She was so much fun and I loved having sleepovers at her house.
These are just a few of my fondest memories of her:
For New Years Eve my brother and I would stay the night at her house and she would make popcorn and we'd eat Fannie May Mint Meltaways to help keep us awake. When midnight would strike on her grandfather clock she would bust out some old horse bells and we would go around her house ringing the bells and cause all kinds of ruckus shouting "Happy New Year!".
At night she would read to us and would get really into the books and change her voice to suit the characters. I can picture the stories perfectly in my head and what I thought the old troll who lived under the bridge looked like to this very day. "Who's that trip trapping over my bridge!?!" she would ask in her scariest voice.
She would thin out some of the flower bulbs in her garden and come over to my house and we would plant them in my front yard together.
Every year for my birthday she and my other grandma (Mary) would take me out to lunch and then we would go to a nursery where I would pick out a tree or a bush to plant in my yard. They would sing Happy Birthday to me at the table and I would pretend to blow out candles on my invisible birthday cake.
On one of the birthday trips I decided I wanted a tree but we drove there in a car. The guy at the nursery said we wouldn't be able to get the tree in the car and she said, "Oh yes we will!" and we did. It was a very cramped ride home though.
Whenever she would see me she would say, "Hi Lizzie!" in her loudest most cheerful voice. It always made me feel so good.
At one time I had two ducks and one of them got sick before I was to go on a canoe trip. I called her and asked her if she would babysit my sick duck since he needed constant fresh water with Epsom salts in it to flush out whatever bacteria he had in his system. When I got back from my trip he was as good as new playing in a little play pen behind her house. She kept a photo of him that I gave her on her refrigerator.
When she got sick and went to stay in a nursing home I took my new dog Daisy there to see her because she was always such a huge animal lover. She was so weak but not too weak to reach out and pet her.
Every year for Christmas she would get all the grandkids a new ornament to put on their Christmas tree. I have one for every year of my life and I just put them all on my Christmas tree last night. My tree has such meaning to me and will for the rest of my life.
She had a distinctive laugh unlike anyone you have ever heard. When she laughed it was so genuine and heartfelt.
I love my Grandma Ohney and I am going to miss her so much.
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