When I was little, my parents would sometimes take us to Sidney to visit dad's parents. Granted, my memories may be hazy but I do remember being expected to sit still and be patient while mom and dad visited. We mostly entertained ourselves by petting Grandma's poodles. I also remember that occasionally my parents would give my sisters and I a couple dollars and we'd walk up the street about a half mile to Lawsons and get ourselves some ice-cream. I can't remember the last time we did that.

Grandma passed away yesterday evening at the local hospital in her town. After we had said our goodbyes, the family went to my grandparents house to console my grandpa and begin making plans. While we were there, my sisters' boyfriend discovered he had a flat tire and set out to repair it. I said to my sister "hey, let's walk to Lawsons". Granted, Lawsons is long gone, but it wasn't about the ice-cream. It was about a last walk down a childhood memory lane. So, there we were, two children of 35 and 40 walking up the street talking over old times with grandma and wishing our other sister could be with us (She's in FL). We walked up to what used to be Lawsons and began walking back. On the way back, we noticed there was an ice-cream shop on a nearby street corner. It was after 9pm, but they were still open, contradicting the hours-of-operation sign in the window.

The first thing I noticed on walking into the ice-cream shop was the Bible on the counter next to the register. I couldn't help but think we were guided there. We ordered two huge ice-cream cones and toasted grandma and talked to the attendant for a while about her. She offered her condolences and off we went on our way back to grandmas. It was almost like being a kid again, though loaded with a debit card rather than a couple bucks in the pocket.

I wasn't the ideal grandchild, and I don't claim to be. Nor was she the warm and fuzzy grandma stereotype. I feel like we could have had a better relationship if we had both tried more, but the family is massive and life gets in the way as it often does. I regret that I don't have a lot, if any, photos of her. I can't slap together a memorial dvd for her like I did with my other grandma. I suppose if the family is interested, perhaps they could pool their photos together and I could put something together. The one I did for Grandma Catherine is beautiful and I will always cherish it.

So...here's to Grandma, the epitome of a matriarch if there ever was one.