My grandma was always really witty. My freshman year of college my roommate and I would make the most ridiculous answering machine messages and my grandma hated them. She left me a message once telling me to "call me back when you stop acting silly". The next time she called she left a message telling me how much she liked our message. When I called her back I asked her if she really liked the message and she said, "No I was doing reverse psychology, did it work?". When I was pregnant my grandma referred to me as "baby momma". She would often e-mail me asking how the "baby momma" was doing. I don't think she knew the modern definition of a baby mama but it always made me laugh just the same!
Growing up my grandma was the best grandmother ever! She always made me doll clothes and even made me new hair for my Cabbage Patch kid when I decided that I wanted her to have long hair instead of the short hair that I had initially requested. This hair consisted of yellow yarn pigtails that matched her short yellow hair. She also painted well and my grandpa would build us bookshelves, doll cradles, wooden dolls, etc. and she would paint them. I still have many of the things that they made us and I know that Clarita will enjoy playing with them.
My grandma didn't like the name Clara at first stating that it was an "old lady name" (it was quite popular in the late 1800s meaning that my grandma probably did know a lot of old ladies named Clara). However, once she got to know Clara she told me that she had changed her mind and that Clara was the perfect name because the baby was a Clara and nothing else.
Although I assured her to the contrary, my grandma was very concerned that we weren't going to tell her when Clara was born. She called me often in the days leading up to my due date and once when I didn't answer she even called the hospital to see if I was there! She called me hourly when I was in labor asking if I'd had the baby yet each time. My dad brought her and my grandpa to the hospital the day after Clara was born and I have never seen them so happy. My grandma said that it was the best day of her life and that she had never seen a more beautiful baby. She often talked about visiting us that day in the hospital and how much it had meant to her.
I tried to visit my grandma frequently and bring Clara to see her. Each time that she saw Clara her face lit up and she became so happy. Even in the hospital and nursing home when she didn't recognize the rest of us, she always knew who Clara was. She would exclaim, "There's my precious baby!" and proceed to tell all of the staff that this was her first great grandchild and ask them all, "Isn't she the most beautiful baby you've ever seen?" Once she had just woken up when we got to the nursing home and the nurse told her that she had a visitor. I heard her say, "I hope it's Clara!" My grandma would hold Clara and talk to her and Clara loved it. She would grab my grandma's fingers and play with them, always trying to put them in her mouth of course. Even towards the end when my grandma was very weak she would hold Clara and even lift her up above her. It was amazing how happy Clara made her!
What a sweet post. You know, when I saw the first picture and some of the others, I immediately recognized your grandmother from a few of your other posts! How great that you have many pictures of her and Clara together. It's amazing timing, since Clara is still so new to the planet. It reminds of when we moved from Honduras to Oman. Nathan stayed behind in LA for a bit and it was during that time that his grandmother passed. After being away for 2 years, he was home when a lot of his family was there and was able to spend spend time with her before she passed. <3 Anita
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