Serious color...funny stories

This weeks 50 shades of Pink color for Gertie is "Pink Seriously" donated by Jean Strand Rollins of Blaine, Minnesota.  This weeks color was chosen not because of the color but rather because of the name.  While my grandma could be fairly serious, some of the greatest memories of her that I have are of funny ones where she was having a good time.

 

One of the stories that exemplifies my grandma's fun loving spirit was a story from my grade school years.  One evening in the middle of the week, there was a knock at the door of our house.  When I opened the doors, there was this really tall woman and this short guy holding signs. They wouldn't speak and they were wearing masks.    It was creepy!  Quickly I called my parents to the door and for some reason they let them in the door.  The short masked man kept crossing their legs and pulling at their mask and the tall lady would put her hand to her masked mouth.  Their signs displayed words that asked us to figure out who they were.  My two younger sisters and I were worried and a bit freaked out.  You should have seen our faces!  My parents weren't as worried.  Eventually the little man couldn't hold it any longer from their laughing so hard and had to use the bathroom.  As he took off his mask we realized it wasn't a man after all but my grandma!  We all started laughing.  The tall woman was none other than Grandpa Chuck!  They had to be in their 70's already at that time and when I think back to the happy times, I think back to that night. 

 

Mr grandma loved to have fun.  A few years ago when she had been going to an adult day program for the elderly, they had planned a Halloween party.  Grandma asked me what costume I could help her dress up in.  I had a nun costume I had worn a few years before and so with a few adjustments in the length of the dress my grandma was able to wear the costume to her event.  She was so convincing in this costume that she ended up even winning the best costume prize that year.  Even till before she died she would talk about and laugh about that costume.  While Grandma could be serious, she taught be that its important to enjoy life and have a good time. 

 

Our lives are short...even if you live to be almost 97 years old.  What are you doing with your life?  While I spend alot of time still sad that my grandma is gone and grieving that loss, I am trying to plan some good times and fun as well. 

 

Thank you Grandma for the laughs and the fun memories...

 

                               Grandma as Sr. Mary Gertrude...don't you just love the sneakers?

 

 

                                     Pink Seriously nail polish donated by Jean Strand Rollins


***Story correction:  So, my mom, after reading the blog entry today, informed me that she didn't just let the masked couple in.  Rather, she made them tell her who it was first.  Apparently myself and my siblings were far enough away that we didn't hear them say to my mom who they were.  Mom said she knew who they were before we did. Thankfully this story led to my mom reminding me of a few other memories and we had a few other laughs about Grandma memories.  That, my friends and family, is what this blog is about.  What helps us laugh helps us heal.  I will forever miss my grandma but as I share memories it helps me remember those great times.

A Diamond in the Rough

It's now been two weeks since my grandma passed away.  As I sit in the quiet space of the kitchen at my brother's girlfriend's house in Minnesota I reflect on the color of pink that I just painted my nails.  The 50 Shades color this week is Pink Diamond by Essie, courtesy of Jean Strand Rollins, my brother's girlfriend.  

Pink Diamond.  It's kind of how I think of my grandma.  As a child I watched my grandma get ready for  the day or even for bed and was fascinated by how proper she was.  She'd take time to put on Oil of Olay every night, her makeup and lipstick every morning. I will never forget the day when in her 80's we talked Grandma into getting a pair of jeans and wearing them.  Still she wore a nice blouse and a necklace to make sure she was dressed just right.  Even as I look at pictures of grandma from when she was a young girl she still always had to be properly dressed, her hair properly done, her jewelry...what she had...was perfect to what she wore.  As grandma got older and even up to her passing two weeks ago, she still had to be properly dressed.  She wouldn't pass with her hair a mess and wearing a hospital gown.  No...she waited until we had bathed her, washed her hair and fixed it, and put on her favorite pink house coat (worn backwards as a gown instead) before she let go.  She had to be pretty to meet Jesus as we referred to it.  My grandma always had to look nice.  She was like a diamond...no matter how you looked at her she looked beautiful.

Through my life I didn't pay attention much to how others perceived me...I tried to voyage my own path  and have my own look.  I have realized as I have reflected on my life and my grandma's these last two weeks that my Grandma wasn't vain by wanting to look nice.  Rather, how she dressed and looked was to help herself feel like a diamond.  My grandma was raised in an immigrant home and rather poor.  Her  being able to be proper and dressed nice was her respect of herself and her way of helping herself see that she could move beyond the poverty she was raised in.  What mattered to her was the achievement of being able to make and then wear what she made and it look good.  My grandma had been a seamstress.    

Recently I have found myself wanting to be more like her.  Wanting to put the Oil of Olay on at night to keep the wrinkles away, wanting to make sure I don't go out without wearing jewelry or the proper attire.  It's all her fault.  She has influenced me to want to be a diamond myself. 

 While transformations don't happen over night, at least I can start with the nails.  Pink Diamond.  I think she'd be proud.

(I am still trying to figure out how to get my pretty nails onto a picture and onto this blog from my iPad since I am currently out of town....if you are reading this and want to see the picture, check in later again.  Until then, thank you for reading my blog.)

                                         Pink Diamond nail polish donated by Jean Strand Rollins

                                            

What is 50 Shades of Pink for Gertie?

My Grandma, Gertrude Olejniczak Winkiewicz Ritchie, was my hero...my best friend...my everything.  My husband accepted the reality before we got married that my Grandma was one of the most important people in my life and the person that I trusted most....even sometimes more than God it seemed.  A week ago today, at 8:05 a.m., my grandma took her last breath as her struggle with  Acute Myeloid Leukemia ended.  It was a diagnosis she and we only found out about two weeks prior.  AML, as Hospice referred to it as, is a progressive and mostly fatal form of leukemia.  It was Cancer of the Blood as my Grandma referred to it in that two weeks before she passed. My grandma had been 96....soon to be 97.  Old people don't get leukemia!  Or so we thought.  My grandma died from Leukemia.  Cancer.

 

Many people would say that she had a long life...that she was in a better place now...at least she wasn't suffering anymore.  All I wanted to hear was that this loss sucked.  Yes...I said it...it sucked.  I had just lost my best friend...my confidant...my lifeline....and it sucked more than anything I had ever experienced.  I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I could barely breathe. 

 

 

As we prepared for the impending funeral, in order to deal with the whole ordeal, my mind shifted to the thoughts of how I could honor my grandma and get the education out there about Leukemia.  Thus the creation of 50 Shades of Pink for Gertie.  My grandma's favorite color was pink.  Every house (all two of them) had to have a room that was pepto bismo pink. Her favorite sweater was a pink one we had just bought two years ago.    As I sat at the funeral listening to the Priest speak about how my grandma was loved and that was why it hurt so much that she was now gone, I realized that I needed to do something to honor grandma.  Paint my nails pink...Grandma's favorite color...and share with others what it was about my grandma that made that loss so painful..my memories. 

 

 

So, please...follow this blog and my posts every Saturday as I paint my nails a new shade of Pink in honor of her and share a memory.  My hopes are that these memories will bring to mind the memories of someone that you love dearly or that you loved dearly.  And hopefully, it will as well bring light to educating about Cancer and leukemia.  In the last year and a half I have lost 4 people in my life to cancer or leukemia.  It's still out there..its not gone.  While our knowing whether Grandma had leukemia or not when we did or months before would not have changed the outcome when she passed away, we know now what we could have looked for to help and comfort her earlier on.

 

 

Today, my finger nail color is Strawberry Margarita.  Thank you and a shout out goes to our donor of this nail polish this week : Haircrafters Salon.  (Please visit their Facebook page or website at www.hair-crafters.com ).

 

 

For more information about Leukemia and its effects or to make a donation to the advancement and treatment of blood cancer, please visit the Leukemia and Lymphoma society at www.lls.org .

 

 

Thank you Haircrafters Salon for the Strawberry Margarita nail polish that is this weeks 50 shades of Pink for Gertie color of the week.