Monday, October 1, 2007

grandma marz






I spent last week in Utah for my grandma marz’s funeral. I had a full week to think of my wonderful grandma and all of the many memories I have of her.

My first thought is of the amazing legacy she left behind. My grandma marz had a total of 10 children, a mixture of step and her own, that she loved and cared for. Two didn’t make it very long on this earth but eight grew up to be wonderful people thanks to my grandparents. At the time of her passing, my grandma had 40 grandchildren, 96 great grand children, and 19 great great grandchildren. Just imagine our family reunions!

It’s interesting to hear my cousins talk of their memories of grandma. We all have such different memories of her. I think the older cousins really got to know her and were able to spend time with her. I unfortunately was one of the younger cousins so I never knew her when she was healthy and able to do a lot of things. And, we were one of the few families that lived outside of Utah so we didn’t see her as often as the other cousins either. The one thing that I always remember is how her home was open to anyone and everyone. There were always people there and we always felt very welcome. We had countless afternoons with many cousins playing in their yard. They had a big yard that sat on a river/creek that was so fun to play on. My grandma was diabetic so she wasn’t allowed to eat much sugar but she always tried to rope her grandkids in to bring her jelly beans and coke. Good thing we knew that was a no-no for grandma or she would have had a lot of extra sugar!

When Wes and I lived in Utah, we tried to see grandma as often as possible. We often visited her in the assisted living home she was in and tried to take her to The Olive Garden, her favorite restaurant, as often as possible when she lived with my aunt tina. She loved the spaghetti and sausage and had our waiter put more parmesan cheese on top than I’ve ever seen! We had some wonderful visits with grandma. She really liked Wes and they gave each other a hard time quite a bit. She told us a lot about her life and what she was thinking at the time. She always made us smile and laugh.

The funeral was a beautiful service. Four of her children spoke of the wonderful memories they have of her ~ what a special lady. Her passing brought our family together…it was a family reunion of sorts. Cousins flew in from all over the country and it was so nice to have everyone together. I’m sure she was pleased to see us all together. She had been “sick” for quite some time so while her passing was sad and she will be missed, it is nice knowing that she is reunited with both of her husbands, three children, and grandchildren who have passed on. I take comfort knowing that we will see her again someday.

Love you, grandma.


7 comments:

mrs. timberlake said...

My favorite picture here is the one with her in her bathing suit. Love it! Makes me wonder what kind of legacy I will leave... Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Glad to have you back online, after being gone for a week.

Ali said...

I guess you got the photo disc....remember to share with your sisters!

Taralee said...

Thanks for inviting me to view your blog. I'm glad it finally worked :) This post is so special and it's always so great to reminisce about someone so wonderful!

Bella Beginnings said...

I love the bathing suit photo. She was such a hottie. You look like her alot! It sounds like the services were so nice. When my grandma passed away it was more like a reunion than a funeral, as she was so old and tired of living alone. It was a joyous occasion knowing that she was reunited with my grandpa. Good thing we have the understanding of what happens next, or this could seriously get depressing! Thanks for sharing.

510Jen said...

Lindsay,
What a wonderful tribute, hope you don't mind that I copied the pics and did a similiar thing on my blog. I am going to post some pics from the funeral on mine later. Also I will send you a disc of the pics later. What photo disc is ali talking about I want a copy!

Anya said...

Very special Linds- glad to have you back in town!

Kelsey said...

You gave me chills. Makes me think of a few people I take for granted! Thanks for sharing that. BTW, Jared wants those bathing suits to come back in style. He thinks they are so cute!