Around the holidays I always remember fondly of a time when I was still living at home in Keizer with my parents. Mom & I went to the grocery store this one holiday in the 70tys. Our original plan was to get groceries for Christmas dinner. As we walked into the store right in the center of the walkway & the first thing you’d see as you came in, they had a huge round barrel. I followed her as she went up to it to see what it was for, the lady overseeing it said they were collecting donations for needy & starving local children for the holidays. That’s all she had to say, mom was off and running. She said oh goodness come on and help me pick out a few things to donate. I followed her down the baby isle, there she went crazy filling our basket with baby food, juices, binkies, blankets, teething snacks, anything & everything there was for babies. I remember saying to her mom that’s good enough, it’s gonna cost you most of our grocery money as it is & dad’s gonna be mad. She said what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him cause I got a good sized Christmas bonus yesterday he doesn’t know about so we’ll be fine. She said did you see how empty that barrel was? What if nobody else donates? Those poor babies, how I love babies she said. I had to laugh, I tried to reason with her but it was no use. She kept saying how good it felt to know there’s gonna be children getting their bellies full this year (with the biggest smile on her face and her eyes starting to tear up). We went to the checkout to pay for those things first then we’d do our shopping next. I watched them ring up item after item, watching the balance climb to a total of $100+ dollars. I looked quick at her to see if she was going to cringe but no she paid the bill then went directly to the barrel and put in every item one at a time. She began to cry, The lady seeing over the barrel hugged her & cried with het saying what a special & lovely person mom was. I respected my mom a great deal more that day, the selfless act of giving & how good it made her feel was so beautiful. If I had to describe what kind of person my mother was, I’d tell that story & say that’s who my mom is in a nutshell. She taught me a valuable lesson that day in giving, loving & not asking to be rewarded for it, reward was the feeling you got when you give. Is she in Heaven? Absolutely! I’d even bet she’s an Angel of God’s helping make someone’s life better one person at a time.
Grandma had to go to the Salem hospital for a thing that occurred at the home she currently in. They said they weren’t equipped to keep her living there. So the hospital kept her in a room and inside a mesh encasing with zippers so that she couldn’t escape and not fall out of bed. Ashley and I visited one of the times and found her holding a stuffed giraffe that the hospital gave her. Grandma was so happy snuggling this animal. Ashley and I sat there on the bed talking to her while she was taking the girafyand kissing it’s face saying “oh Norman I love you”. It was so cute she thought that it was her husband and kept calling it Norman.
Grandma and I would watch COPS endlessly and she would sit there and eitherd complain about how stupid the criminal was or she would be laugh and be proud on the great take downs by Police. She’d say “Oh Boy”, and smile. Grandma was part of the reason that made me want to be a police officer.
