Grandma Jean

As most know I lost my Grandma earlier this month. It was semi-expected, but no matter how prepared we all thought we were, it couldn't compare to actually going through it. I took it really hard. I was in a fog for the two days before I left for CA. Luckily I was blessed with peace before the journey.
It was a wonderful opportunity for our family to be together though. My sister Mary & I were able to fly out for the funeral (thanks Dad!). We ended up flying out on my Birthday. We had a wonderful family dinner at Mel's (my FAVORITE burger joint). Can I tell you how wonderful it was to be together again. I can't remember the last time my family, just us kids (no spouses) and our parents went out together.
The next day we made the trip down to Escalon for the service. It was great. I got to sing "Nearer My God to Thee" with my sisters. We went out to lunch and laughed and shared memories of Grandma.
She is the coolest Grandma! Can I just say that. I mean look at the picture. This was taken at Mason's birthday party, I think his 3rd, 5 years ago. I know I have "better" pictures of her, but this one's my favorite. It just shows how cool she was.
So now I will share one of my favorite memories of my Grandma Jean...
Turn the volume up on my playlist. There's a reason Vanilla Ice is on my playlist.
The year is 1990. I'm 12, my sister Mary is 14. Our parents are out of town and Grandma's staying with us. It's a Wednesday night, so we're headed up to "Mormon Center" for mutual. We're in Grandma's hatchback Honda Civic with at least one, maybe two friends. Ice Ice Baby comes on the radio. Yes, she let us listen to whatever we wanted even though she only liked country. We tell Grandma to turn it up. She does. We tell her to turn it up again. She does. This goes on. Mormon Center is on a hill, a big one. So picture her little Civic, packed full of girls, rattling with the base from Ice Ice Baby, chugging up the hill. I wouldn't be surprised if we blew her speakers that night. If we did she wouldn't have cared. That's just the kind of Grandma she was. She loved her Kids, her Grand kids and Great Grand kids. We will all feel her loss till we are with her again.