Good Afternoon, thank you for coming. My name is Malia and I am Judy’s oldest grandchild. There is a special bond between the first grandchild and her grandparents. I could stand up here all day and speak about how great my grandma was. But I chose a few special things to share with you today.
My grandma taught me many things. We spent many days and nights sewing together. She bought me my sewing machine and taught me how to sew. She taught me to knit when I had the chicken pox.
Grandma was very knowledgeable. She knew everything. In my house we called her Dr. Grandma. Anytime we had a medical question or any question at all we called her.
I love my Grandma very much. She always amazed me with her ability to keep all of our schedules and being able to attend everyone’s events from dance shows, the many sports games, concerts, and anything else that we did. Especially graduations. With so many cousins it would be easy for someone to be left out, but she always managed to make each one of us feel special. She focused on our individuality. She loved each of us like we were her only grandchild, not one of many.
Because I am the oldest, I got to spend a lot of time with grandma. When I was young, my sister and I spent a lot of time with Grandma and Grandpa. When grandma was not able to drive, I drove her a few times. I don’t think she liked it so much though. She said it was an adventure!
I would like to share some of my favorite memories with you.
A few years ago, I got to go on a trip to Yosemite with some family members. One of my favorite memories from this trip was seeing my grandma and my grandpa ride bikes around Camp Curry. Also, on this trip, I wanted to go on a Sunrise Photography Walk. This meant getting up extremely early. Grandma volunteered to go with me. The first day we planned on going, we both overslept. But we made it on the last day of our trip. Yosemite was absolutely beautiful. We got to share this special time together. Also, after the photography walk, she drove me over to see something that I really wanted to see but we didn’t have time to see earlier on the trip.
Earlier this year, she told me that she wanted a bike, so she could get some exercise, instead of using the electric scooter. So, for her birthday some of us bought a three wheeled bike. I rode it over to her house to give it to her. It was so fun watching her ride the bike around, she had the biggest smile!
Last Thanksgiving, my sister and I volunteered to help cook dinner with Grandma. We did the shopping and helped cook everything. It was a blast! Grandma told us what to do and we did it. I really learned so much about cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I do enjoy cooking and Grandma encouraged me. I had the pleasure of helping cook some food for her just a month or so ago.
Something that I look forward to every year is Christmas at Grandma’s house. Her house was always so decorated. She also managed to put a stocking up on her mantle for all of us. We have a large group, I am not sure how she managed this. I think it involved fishing line and weights. She had nice stockings for decoration and then she would fill another stocking for us. She used to be able to hang both on Christmas day, but as the group got larger this stopped. In each stocking we had our favorite candy and treats along with lots of other goodies picked out just for each one of us. My favorite thing about Christmas though, was my ornament. Every year, she got us an ornament and wrote our names on them. It was always something we were into that year. I always looked forward to seeing what my ornament would be. And it was nice because now when we are on our own we will have our own ornament collection to start with. At Christmas time she used to buy these Gingerbread men ice cream sandwiches, every year. After they stopped selling them in the store, she started making them so we could still have them. We loved them very much.
I love my Grandma very much and I will miss her everyday. But I know she is up there with my mom, and Grandpa and Aunt Cindy and all the rest that have gone before, looking down on us, watching over us. I will think of Grandma every time I eat Peppermint Ice cream, or try to sew something or put ornaments on my tree.
Thank you.
