I remember sitting with Gramma Hazel in her kitchen nook at her house in Marysville. We would wile away the time watching TBN, or Jimmy Swaggart on TV, or just talking about things on our minds. Often Gramma would have her crochet hook in her hand, and be working yarn around and around on some perpetual new blanket. She liked doing that.Grandpa seemed to be in the background alot. Whether it was putting on a new pot of coffee, or getting into the ice cream because 'company showed up, he always seemed to be mulling around doing something or other.....
I remember the year he secreted himself away in the backyard wormshed, working on some mysterious project for Christmas. He would hustle out back after the shared cup of coffee and cookie or two he always offered guests after the greeting hugs and how- to- do's. The departing warning went something like this: " Well, girls, I better get busy...." and then the sliding door would open, and close, and Grandpa was gone.... for a while.
This was the special time I shared with Gramma. We would share chit chat..... talking often of the 'Lord...... or some aspect of our Christain beliefs, or a passage in the Bible that had currently enlightened us.... no matter what, my visits with Gramma always had a bit of Godly advice thrown in some where.
Gramma and Grandpa always honored the Christmas season. I don't remember a year that they didn't put up a Christmas tree, or turn on the Christmas lights strung on the eaves of the house. They used to light up the white painted rockery a pretty reddish glow........ all the modes of the season were expressed at Grammas house.
Some years Gramma gave a pre warning that there weren't going to be presents that year, ( for whatever reason), but, always, ALWAYS, when Christmas Eve came around..... they had managed to have a little something for everyone.
I always looked forward to the PJ's. You just knew that on Christmas morning, you would be wearing brand new PJ's, thanks to Gramma and Grandpa.
Well, after all the secret escapes to the Wormshed, Grandpa finally handed out his handiwork on Christmas Eve. That year, all his girls got handmade Candle holders constructed out of wood. They spread apart on a spindle, and created a menorah. I am not sure that Grandpa understood that a Menorah is a Jewish thing, but they were beautiful!
One of my best memories of Gramma was a question she once asked me during one of our special talk times. She asked me ... "What will you remember about me when I die?"...
Of course my instant answer was, "Oh come on Gramma, your never gonna die..."
But, now a few years after her death, I remember that question.
I guess, now that she is gone, I can rightly answer that.
Gramma, I remember YOU!
I remember you cooking KrumKaKa for my wedding. I remember our catnaps in the afternoons. I remember you making a little fire in the wood stove. I remember all the 5 and 10's you would press into my hand and tell me not to tell Grandpa. I remember your favorite book in the bible...'Hebrews~ I remember the magnificent quilt you and Grandpa made me years and years ago. I remember the shots you had to give my horse cause I was too scared and you were a nurse and knew how......
I remember you giving love slaps on Grandpas big chest, and he would just chuckle as you pretended to be mad at him just for the show of it all, cause it would make me laugh. I remember the year you made funny little socks out of yarn! I remember your perfume, ESTEE LAUDER. I always knew when you had been to my bedroom while I was gone to school, cause the bed was neatly made, and the smell of your perfume lingered in the room. I remember you coming to all my childhood events at school to give me support. I remember you being my hair model in Spokane for my boards. I remember us fishing in a little aluminum boat in some lake, and Grandpa said he was 'trolling .... I remember a hundred thousand things about you Gramma.
I could never narrow my memories down to one memory.......
So, I just bunch them all together and remember you.
Love and Miss you so much Gramma.
Missing you at this Christmas Season.
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You are the best writer EVER! I also remember her making krumkaka for me to take to class growing up... EVERYONE loved that stuff! One weekend she taught me how to make homemade playdoh- which Matthew and I made one afternoon after school while the Nobles were still at work. We used green food coloring- had a blast... and I'm sure the green circles on the ceiling are still there from us rolling them into balls and tossing them into the ceiling fan... man we were hellions!
I'm making a baby blanket as we speak for a girlfriend of mine in the Army- crocheting of course- as great Grandma taught me on days I stayed with her when I was too sick to go to school. Four square and SEQUENCE!!!--- there's a word FOREVER tied in memory with the Afseth's! Grandpa was ALWAYS competitive! And had that Elmer smirk when he won-and that under his breath whisper, "Let's play again", when he lost. I remember falling and getting bruised up trying to run on that OLDIE hoakie tredmill they had- that you had to push with your feet to move. Grandma and her Poppies! Grandpa and his stingyness over giving me paper from the credit union- I always liked collecting paper and pens from them for some reason- and I loved going to work with him... they always had 'suckers' there! Going to visit and staying for 'supper' or their specialty... chick soup with dumplings......no one says 'supper' anymore. They always had the best ice cream-and weird tupperware... recycled margarine tubs. :) Waking up on a Saturday morning at their house and crawling into bed with them as they sipped coffee-and I ate those cardboard wafers with butter or a cookie- grandpa's side of the bed was ALWAYS cold!
Most of all- the memory that in an instant brings back their smell, their faces, their voices, their love and presence..... when I remember the sweet mumble of their voices coming from their bedroom, on nights I stayed over, as they prayed for everyone they knew before falling asleep. God listened to them. I miss their prayers.
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