It's been a few weeks since my sweet Chappie left this earth, and I feel the need to write some things about her. She was a super special grandmother. I am blessed to have 2 very special grandmothers, and one day I'll write a similar entry about Grandma. It has been a blessing to have the love and support of two such sweet ladies. Near the end, when she wasn't totally in her right mind, she called me her "half-baby!" And, she was kind of right. Many of my memories growing up have Chappie in them; she was a very important part of my life.
I remember spending the night over at Chappie's house as often as Mom & Dad would let me. She spoiled me rotten! Chappie took me out to eat, a treat back then! She introduced me to wonderful treats like toaster strudel, nilla wafers with marshmallow creme, and lemon drops!
Mom, Chappie, and I would pile up in the car and head off to Waco, Tyler, or Dallas and shop till we dropped for a great girls' weekend. I learned about sales racks at a very early age! Mom and Chappie could find every Luby's, Furr's or whatever cafeteria was open within a 50 mile radius! And then there were times we got to eat something really exciting, like Red Lobster (and I hated seafood back then!). It was always fabulous when Chappie went shopping with us because I always got lots of stuff! Being the only grandaughter for 16 years had its perks!
Chappie never missed a ball game, awards ceremony, piano recital, church play, whatever I was doing that I can remember. I could always count on my parents and grandmothers to be there (and brother, too!). I always knew she would be there to support me.
I missed our time together when I went off to A&M. But, everytime I came home, she came down to the house to visit. She was always interested in my classes, my friends, everything about my life. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer my senior year, I got to help drive her to her radiation treatments during Christmas break. There were lots of good talks and good meals that year!
When I started nursing school, I instantly knew everything there is to know about medicine! She had me start going with her to every doctor's visit I could make so "I could decipher what the doctor was saying." Chappie made sure that everyone knew I was her grandaughter, the "registered nurse." She was still introducing me that way during her last hospital stay. It's good to know she was proud of me!
Chappie was never the most affectionate woman on the planet. When Chris came into the family, and she was always hugging on him, I knew I had a winner! The older Chappie got, the less she held her tongue....That led to a very interesting conversation one morning around the breakfast table. She, Chris, and I were sitting at the table, and she began to "educate" us on the ins and outs of marriage...and marital relations (to keep this G-rated)! I turned SO RED!! I thought Chris would surely break off the engagement after that conversation, but he's still around 10 years later....and we joke about how accurate she was!
When I was a young teenager, I asked Chappie if I could have her wedding ring when she died, but of course I told her not to die anytime soon! She told me I could have it when I got engaged if I wanted it, but Chris and I got engaged so quickly that he really didn't feel comfortable asking for it at the time. But now, I proudly wear her ring and kind of take her memory with me wherever I go.
It has been a huge blessing to have Chappie around for almost 34 years. She made a HUGE impact on my life and I'm sure on other's lives, too. I will miss my Chappie always. Thankfully, I can look back and choose from millions of fond memories. One day I will see her again, and she won't creak when she stands, and she will be able to move like she did on all those old shopping trips! Until then, Chappie....
We had a fantastic time at Gulf Shores last week! I LOVE the beach! We got to Alabama the night before we could get into our condo, so we stayed in Fairhope, a little town about 40 min from Gulf Shores, and a little bit outside of Mobile. What a pretty little town! They have a great downtown area that I would have loved to explore sans little boys! I got to do a little shopping, but I just couldn't put the fellas through all that (and I was worried they'd break something)! They have a really neat pier area on the bay, and we had lunch at the restaurant there. My first seafood of the week!
Sunday we got into the condo fairly early, so we had lots of beach time that day. The waves were so strong this year! Sharky made his appearance, but Caleb didn't seem to enjoy it as much as last year. I guess the waves threw him around too much. But, he and Joshua seemed to enjoy messing around at the water's edge playing with their cousins. Joshua "fought" the waves; they were the bad guys! I have some seriously cute boys! Their daddy, I think, had the most fun. Chris was a complete nut playing in the waves. Over the course of the week, a few floats met their demise thanks to him and my brother-in-law! I had fun playing out there, but the waves were so forceful, I felt like they were knocking me out of my swimsuit! I was scared I'd look down and see something scary, so I pretty much kept back, watched, and took lots of pics! It was beautiful and so relaxing! We got to ride the ferry, play putt putt, eat some really yummy food, and go to the estruarium. So much fun!
Caleb's favorite part was the pool, of all things. He decided he was ready to swim all by himself, so he did! He just started swimming back and forth on the shallow end; I was so proud! He asked me one day if I knew how who taught him how to swim. When I asked "who?", he said (seriously), "David Hasselhoff." WHAT!? I asked him how he knew David Hasselhoff, and he told me he learned from him on the SpongeBob movie. HA! He gets to watch that on his papa's computer when he visits; I've never seen it, but I guess the Hoff gives a good swimming lesson! We were swimming earlier this week in a pool where he can't touch, but he was jumping in and swimming across the pool. What improvement!!! Now for the little one to decide to learn...
I was sad to have to come home to this sweltering heat, but it is nice to be back to somewhat of a routine. I just can't believe my summer is almost half over! I think I could use a few beach vacations a year!