Guendolee Arlene Andrews

Guendolee Arlene Andrews

To so many of us, she was just Grandma.  We all had our private moments with her over the years. Those moments we will all hold dear to our hearts forever. She gave each one of so much, her sound advice, her unconditional love, kind discipline, stories of her life, her acceptance and her forgiveness. She is in partly responsible for who we are.

We all have some common memories as well. Whenever we came running with a bleeding mouth we got a mouth full of sugar. I think we all have benefited from that little trick and many of us have used it on our children. We may differ in our beliefs on whether there were real clotting benefits or whether it just stopped us from screaming. The only thing we know is, that it worked! I think that little trick will continue throughout the generations just as she passed it on from generations before her. We all remember the $2 bills in our birthday cards. It was a little thing she did for each and every one of us every year we were growing up. Even after the $2 bills stopped, we always got a Birthday card, every year, always on time. We always opened those cards knowing that she loved us and thought of us fondly, grandchildren and great-children alike. Some of us saw her every day, others only occasionally, but she was precious to each one of us.

Our grandma has always been the matriarch of our family and the glue that held us all together. It is very scary to think about life without her constant presence. Her grandchildren will feel the loss of that presence and will struggle to fill the hole that her passing has left.  She always had news of how all of her grandchildren were doing and the major events of our lives. . She always knew where each of us was and how we were doing and she shared that information with all of us. She was our common denominator and kept many of us from becoming strangers through her news of our lives. I am grateful for that and will miss catching-up on all the news of my cousins, aunts and uncles… my family.

One of the most precious gifts she has given us all is how to be the best grandparent in the world. I think we all agree she was the best grandma of all time. We are so proud to call her grandma and honored that she loved us. We will carry her wisdom with us always and pass on that wisdom to our grandchildren and they will pass it on to their grandchildren and so she shall live on in the generations to come.

She had a quiet strength about her and her presence in each of our lives is something we all share and has always linked us. Her Grandchildren span many generations and some of us really didn’t see each other very often, but we all have two things in common, her unwavering love for us and  her constant presence in each of our lives. She was our Grandma and she loved us no matter what. How lucky were we?!