My Life Monday

Rachelle has brought back My Life Monday. Yipeeee!! The subject this week is "Where I Live and How I Got Here."

I've lived in the same state my entire life, save a year or two away at school and a few months stay in Arizona. Other than that, I've remained close to home.

When I finally moved out of my parents house for good at age 22, I lived in various different apartments with various roommates in the same state, but in a different town than where I grew up. After I met my husband, we initially lived in a town-home in the city where I work, but once Feisty was born we decided that with three kids we simply had to find a place to live that ideally had a backyard and a garage and was in a family friendly neighborhood. So, the search began.

Shortly after we began looking, we were down visiting my parents one evening when lo and behold....we discovered a house on their street was available for rent. My husband jumped right on it and contacted the landlord. Before I knew it, the lease was signed and we were moving in. The house was just what we envisioned for ourselves: Three bedrooms, a nice yard--fenced backyard--in a cul-de-sac and with a garage. What's more? It is three doors down from where my parents live.

We have lived here for 2.5 years now and our children love it. They have friends in the neighborhood, they pop on down to grandma and grandpa's when ever the urge hits them and they feel at home; which is the most important thing of all.

There are downfalls to living 3 doors down from your parents, but in my opinion, the good far outweighs the negative. My kids are walking in the same footsteps I did as a kid; playing in the same parks and going to the same schools. Pretty cool if you ask me.

My First "My Life Monday"!

I'm not confused. I know it's Tuesday, but I usually don't blog on Mondays, so usually don't get to participate in Rachelle's My Life Mondays. But I didn't want to miss out on this one, so I'm doing it on Tuesday. It's my blog, my prerogative! :-) This week's topic is "In Memory Of...."

This post is in memory of my great-grandmother on my father's side. Her name was Grandma Wickstrom.

When I was a little girl, my Grandma Wickstrom was my best buddy. I was lucky enough as a child to live a mere six blocks away from my grandparents. My great-grandmother lived with them as well. Since they lived so close, I got to see them often.

Grandma Wickstrom was always willing to play with me. I don't care what it was, she would play my games. I don't know of too many 85-90 year old women who have the patience, desire or energy to keep up with a 5-9 year old girl, but she did. I probably did wear her out on many occasions, but she never complained.

We played house, we played teacher (I was the teacher, she the student), we played bookstore, we played library....you name it we played it.

Grandma Wickstrom had long, gray hair that she always kept in a bun. She had an infectious laugh and a loving smile. She gave wonderful hugs.

I loved my Grandma Wickstrom.

One night when I was spending the night at my Grandparents house, I went in to say goodnight to my great grandma and to my suprise, and somewhat horror, I saw a set of teeth swimming in a glass cup. And there was grandma, sitting on her bed sporting a huge gummy grin at me. From that moment forward, it was one of our funnest games. I would convince grandma every now and then to pop her teeth out and show me her toothless smile and have her talk for me. We would both bust into fits of giggles until our stomachs hurt.

My grandma Wickstrom was very special to me. I'll never forget one day when I was in third grade, I came home from school and heard that Grandma was in the hospital. She had suffered a stroke. I was terrified. She was 92 years old. She had always been so healthy, but she was getting old. I went to visit my grandma in the hospital. She wasn't able to talk to me or communicate with me, but I talked to her, I rubbed her head and I gave her a kiss. It was the last time I saw my grandma Wickstrom. The next day I came home from school and my mom sat me down to tell me that my Grandma had gone to be with Jesus.

It's been 22 years. I still think of my Grandma often. She was a true friend, playmate and kindred spirit. I look forward to the day I will re-unite with her in Heaven!!