What you see here is the horizontal device in my bedroom, upon which I usually sleep. Why are you seeing my sleeping device at this point in time, you may be wondering?
Well.
Last night, the evening of December 26, the day after Christmas, a few minutes before I was scheduled to watch Amazon Prime broadcast the Seattle Seahawks trying to win their final game of the season, I got a text message on my phone, from my little brother Jake, he being Spencer Jack and Hank Frank's grandpa, and my nephew's, Jason and Joey's, dad.
The text message said...
"124 years young today..."
The text message included the photo below.
It took me a second or two to realize what the text message meant and how it related to the photo.
Grandma Vera, was my mom's mom. Grandma Vea's birthday was December 26. Apparently, according to my brother's calculations, Grandma Vera would have turned 124 years old yesterday.
Grandma Vera endured dealing with serious arthritis which left her fingers sort of gnarled, and which resulted in constant pain.
To alleviate the pain, somewhat, and to keep her fingers able to function, Grandma Vera was a crocheting and knitting machine, churning out dozens of Afghans, knitted caps, mittens and other things made with yarn and needles.
When we were pre-teenagers, Grandma Vera taught me and my brother how to knit. My brother became quite adept at knitting, able to make mittens using multiple needles, and knitted caps. I was not so talented, only able to make simple things, like a scarf.
When I got my brother's text message about Grandma Vera I replied and said I have some Grandma Vera Afghans stored in my abode. I then went looking for them, finding two and a crocheted pillow in my closet.
I took a phone photo of what I found and sent it to my brother.
Then I took one of the Afghans and installed it in bedspread mode on my bed, which is what you see photo documented at the top.
Til I put the Afghan on my bed I did not realize it was so big.
I do not know how many Afghans Grandma Vera made over the years. I know the total number is somewhere in the multiple dozens. All the relatives have at least one Grandma Vera Afghan, as far as I know.
I remember one time when Grandma Vera was giving me an Afghan she remarked that she hoped these things she made helped us remember her. I recollect telling Grandma Vera I'd always remember her for much more than the nice things she made.
Grandma Vera was my free-spirited relative. It was from Grandma Vera I think I got any free-spiritedness that I may possess.
It is not only relatives who now have Grandma Vera Afghans. Back in October of 2018, when Linda Lou was visiting my mom, in her abode in Sun Lakes, Arizona, Linda Lou verbalized admiration for a white Afghan Linda Lou saw folded on mom's bed.
Mom then gave that Afghan to Linda Lou.
Linda Lou was flying from Arizona to Palm Springs, and had no room for the Afghan, so I drove it back to Texas and then mailed it to Washington.
Methinks it would greatly please Grandma Vera to know her Afghans are very much in play in 2024, and being talked about via newfangled devices that did not exist in Grandma Vera's time.
Anyway, Happy Birthday, Grandma Vera, a day late!
No comments:
Post a Comment