I will never forget the day that my mom and I went to one of our favorite stores, NPS, and saw a cute old lady leaning over this box, with her oxygen tank hanging from her side, searching for different pop...more than likely Diet Coke.
That cute old lady is the one of the most amazing women I've ever been privileged to know during my life. She truly is one of my best friends and I love her with all my heart. My mom and I went up to her and gave her a pleasant surprise when she saw us!
My beautiful Grandma Powell passed away 6 years ago today, April 28, 2006, the year I graduated from high school. I still remember the phone call from my mom and dad from the hospital that morning. That is a phone call I'll never forget.
She has truly been missed. I know that she is still watching over us and knows what is going on in our lives. I know she's spending time with our future kids in heaven and telling them all about us. Some days I find myself thinking about her and how much she has meant to me and helped me with and taught me in my life.
She was such a great example to all who knew her. She worked in the temple every Friday night for as long as I can remember, and I found out that she would always put our names on the Temple Prayer Roll. She exemplified the true love of Christ everyday. She would put herself aside to help others in anyway that she could. She served as the Primary President for awhile, and I remember as a little girl being so excited to go have a sleepover at Grandma's house...we'd always sing my favorite song: "The Temple Song" together in her car. Her favorite church songs were "I am a Child of God" and "Because I have been Given Much" The morning after our sleepovers, we'd always map out our Garage Sale adventures! I will always remember the day that she bought me all of my Barbie house furniture! I was so excited and thankful that she helped me pay for it, because I didn't have enough...
She stayed with us kids every Tuesday while my mom was gone cleaning houses. She did the laundry every week, even though my mom asked her not to. Nicole would take rides on top of the garbage cans when my Grandma would roll them back in from being emptied by the Garbage Man. She was always there when I got home from school on Tuesdays and it was the highlight of my week! I would talk to her about anything and everything. About the drama at school, the boys that I liked, and things with my parents...she was never judgmental of me and was always interested in what I had to say. She would just listen because she truly cared about me and what was going on in my life...as trivial or insignificant as I'm sure my "drama" was, she cared. She listened intently. And then she would usually give me advice and we'd laugh all day long.
We'd laugh about the way she would sneeze at least 8 times every time she'd sneeze. We laughed until we cried every time she told us she'd roll up her boobs because they hung down so much! Also, when Jeremy was in High School and all of his good looking friends were over (I'm pretty sure I had a crush on every single one of them growing up), my Grandma had her favorites. She'd call them the "fine ones" and one in particular was the "fine FINE one!" Every time he'd come over she'd do her cute little dance and state that the "fine one was here!"
My grandma was unlike any other woman I've known. She was absolutely crazy and loved to have fun and laugh until we were all crying- all the time! She had more energy than I do now in my early 20's and would spend every ounce of it helping other people.
I never saw my Grandma upset. She was always happy and smiling. She was always encouraging us and trying to help us in any way that she could. Each time she'd see us she'd always say "Can we touch?" she loved getting kisses from us. She was always doing her little dance whenever she was happy or excited about anything. She'd always tell us "You are so, so special."
She had a "Pick Sack" each Birthday and Christmas for us. She worked at JcPenny's for about 28 years, and received a lot of different awards from them. She was still able to get a discount after she retired...so she was always getting good deals on things for us. We'd be able to choose a certain amount of things out of the "Pick Sack", such as 1 pair of pants, 2 shirts, etc. I don't remember getting clothes from anywhere but JcPenny's all growing up.
She couldn't pass up a good sale, in fact she found a sale with canned vegetables once, but there was a limit as to how much you could buy. She had my mom go in one line, she went in one line, and she sent 7-year-old Chalece down another line after giving her the money to buy it. (Chalece felt pretty cool to say the least.)
When Chalece was in high school, I was going with her to answer a boy to a dance and she was in a hurry, obviously, and she backed up the van from the garage and kind of ran into my Grandma's car. We still went to answer the kid and then came back and Chalece had to confront the reality...mom and dad, but Grandma didn't care. THEN, when I was in high school and was late for work, Grandma said I could take her car and I backed up and might have scraped our red Jeep slightly. Let's just say that nothing bad happened, it just got a little red on Grandma's car...she told me she loved it.
She loved her Diet Coke...oh how she loved it! Especially when it
finally came out with Lime! To this day, if I ever have Diet Coke, as
weird as it sounds, it "tastes" like Grandma to me.
We would go to Grandma's house once a week to mow her lawn. It was so fun going to Grandma's and drinking her Diet Coke. She'd always make us Tomato Sandwiches....which are STILL one of my favorite things to eat to this day! We'd also get a stick of her rhubarb plant while we were there, peel it, and eat it with salt. It was SO good! She had the most amazing garden and loved to take care of it. She would help my mom can pickles, spaghetti sauce and salsa every year and the Hotter the salsa, the better!
"Greek." The most prized recipe that I own. My grandma would call me her "Greek Girl" because I always helped her make it. Most people don't like it, but I couldn't live without eating it. My mom and I would make it for lunch occasionally and eat the entire thing. It's a salad that consists of lettuce, lemon, accent, salt, olive oil....and a can of shrimp. A-MA-ZING! (My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it's delicious-ness!) I just recently found out that Greek actually came from my Grandpa's family and after he passed away she carried on the tradition.
My Grandma LOVED listening to Delilah on 106.5 and would listen to her every night. Her favorite song was "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban and would get so excited when it came on the radio. Her favorite Piano song was "Clair de Lune" and she loved it when Chalece would play it for her.
I still remember the day my mom got Grandma a cell phone. We tried for over an hour to explain to her how to call us on it. She was so careful with it, holding the flip phone in one hand, and carefully opening it with the other to try to convince us that she could do it.
My Grandpa Powell passed away before I was born. They got married when
she was 16 years old and had 4 kids. He would always give her yellow roses for their anniversary because it was his favorite color and he loved yellow on my Grandma. After he passed away my Grandma
couldn't stand the thought of sleeping in their bed without him. For as
long as I knew her, she slept on the couch. In fact, I'd never even been
in their room until after she'd passed away and my mom was cleaning it
out! I didn't even know a room existed there! My Grandma lived without him for 20 years. What a reunion I'm sure they shared.
My Grandma always had the right thing to say. When we were sad or troubled about something, she knew what to say to help us feel better. Some of her most used phrases were: "Life is Good" and she lived by that each day, "It's just things" to remind us of what is truly most important in this life, and "Sh*t happens" which would always make us laugh.
She was an amazing person on Earth, and I can't imagine all the good she is doing right now on the other side.
Grandma, I love you. Thank you for all of the invaluable lessons that you've taught me. For your example and living what you believed in. I truly miss you and all the fun times we were able to have. I can't wait until we can create more fun, lasting memories! I love you with all my heart Grandma!
