Shhhhhhhhhhh....it's a secret!

Hi Everyone.   I'm about to reveal a secret.... well, not really, 'cos if you are on the blog hop and came here from Anne Marie's blog, - then you will already know what it is!

If not, I am thrilled-  and honored - to participate in a blog hop especially for the uber talented, fabulous - and now GRANDMOTHER - also known as Linda Callahan!   Linda, congratulations, I am sooooo happy for you!   Grandmother's are so special and you are in for the ride of your life!

Instead of a card for Linda, I decided to share some  a few thoughts about my own grandmother, as well as a poem.

Sadly for me I didn't get all of my grandmother's genes.  She carried the skinny gene, the tall gene - both of which bypassed me.  However, my grandmother did pass on to me the humour gene.  I remember spending 6 weeks with my grandma and my Uncle Jack one summer, they were wonderful to me and I can close my eyes and remember the living room like it was yesterday.  She loved Victorian furniture, but not the overly heavy furniture and stuffy rooms.  The living room was sparsely decorated with a few carefully chosen pieces. 

No clutter, nothing extraneous, a room left with space around each object.  One of those objects was the funniest thing I had ever seen at that age and still find it funny!  It was a tiny little chamber pot that was decorated with roses.  It wasn't the outside that was funny, it was what was written on the bottom of the pot - inside.  A little poem written around a single eye.  The poem read "keep me clean and wash me well, and what I see I'll never tell".  That absolutely cracked me up and even today 50 years later, I can think of that little chamber pot ornament sitting on top of the fireplace and remind me of how my grandmother laughed when I laughed.  Then, I knew we shared the same humour gene.

Decades later, I realized that my grandmother had also influenced my design gene.  I love clean, open spaces with no clutter.  I like statement pieces.  I didn't know it, but that definitely came from my grandmother. 

Another thing I remember about my grandmother...... you could eat off of her floors.  Her floors - and her house - were the cleanest house I have ever been into.  Every surface sparkled and shone.  The house was always spotless.  Monday was wash day.  Tuesday was ironing day.  Wednesday was shopping day....every day had an activity.  Another thing I got from my grandmother - the need for a routine gene.

My grandmother was well into her sixties when I was born and she had lived a very tough life.  Growing up in the north of England in the early part of the 1900s was not an easy life.  She lived through The Great War and the one that followed.  She lost a husband who had been bedridden for the last 10 years of his life.  She looked after him without complaint every single day and carried her family through those tough years with the same love, humour and care that she brought to every situation.  She gave birth to children and buried children and eventually was blessed with 12 grandchildren.  Her genes carry through in all of us, and I am so grateful for all the things she gave to me.  Harriet... you were wonderful.

Grandmother

Grandmother hugs and Grandmother kisses, Hot oven cookies and holiday wishes, Attics with treasures of children grown old, Stories of magic and princes so bold, Oceans of patience and rainbows of love, A bright ray of sunshine sent from above, You stirred my childhood with rich, golden days, Touching my life in so many ways. When shadows are dark, I reach through the night, The love of a Grandmother shines like a light. ...Author Unknown

Linda, I know that you will be a wonderful grandmother.  A grandmother who will share her love, her life, her experiences and pass along many amazing things to the next generation.  To quote Christopher Morley, it as grandmothers that our mothers come into the fullness of their grace! Congratulations, my friend!

Now... don't forget to pop along on the rest of the blog hop.  Your next stop is the fabulous Nance!

Warm hugs and prayers to all you grandmothers out there!

Hugs

Jaydee

Comments

[Anne Marie Hile]

What a wonderful post, Jaydee! Love that poem you shared, also. Wow! It is so important to remember these amazing women in our lives. Especaly when we learned so much from them!

[Kelly Wentling]

Ah, so sweet Jaydee. I loved that you shared so much with us about a very special lady. I have the greatest memories of my grandma too. They are forever special!

[Rach]

How exciting for Linda and her family! New babies are so wonderful! :o)

I LOVED reading about your grandmother. I figure the humor gene is FAR better than a tall gene. ;o)

Hugs!

[Carol L]

I love your heart-warming memories! My grandmother also had her "routine days" of marketing, cleaning, laundry, etc. TFS that wonderful poem too!

[Linda Callahan]

Oh Jaydee I loved reading about your grandmother! That little poem made me laugh too! How wonderful you have such memories of her - and a legacy from her! I was overwhelmed by this today - my stamping friends are terrific - thank you so much for joining in!

[Ann Schach]

I loved reading about your recollections of your grandmother. And when it comes right down to it...the humour gene trumps the tallness gene :)

[Jen Timko]

Oh what lovely thoughts and memories, Jaydee!! I'd say you won the gene lottery! The others things can change but the sense of humor and wonderful design aesthetic are forever!

[Cindy Hall]

Jaydee, what a beautiful memoir of your time with your grandmother. I love reading such special memories, and I enjoy the humor that your grandmother passed on to you!

[Jen Mitchell]

So glad to hear your grandmother gave you her humor gene! Sweet memories!

[mary fish]

i didn't get my grandmother's "tall gene!" LOL. thanks for the sweet memory! hugs, m