Meme Remembered

Sorry it's been a while since my last post!  I will have to catch up on baby news soon.  But this post is dedicated to my sweet 93 year old great grandmother that left this earth to be with Jesus last night about 11pm.  Her name was Mabel Haven (where our baby girl's name comes from originally in the family line) and we called her Meme.  She was a tough old lady.  Her health has been declining for years, but her quick wit and sense of humor would still come through every once in a while, even as recently as a couple weeks ago.  My grandmother was visiting her and Meme's mind was stuck in a rut and she kept repeating, "I want to go outside."  "I want to go outside." And after repeating this several times, she had a moment of clarity and said, "Why am I saying that?  I don't want to go outside!"  Haha!

She was one of 11 children... yes, I said 11... and next to the youngest.  All of her siblings have already passed.  Her husband passed away in 1973, way too early!  My mom has great memories of him and he definitely was gone too soon.  But that is one thing I am SO happy about... that she is with her hubby in heaven right now!  What a sweet reunion that must have been.  And with all her siblings too!

I could say lots and lots about Meme... and I will... here's some highlights!

One of my vivid childhood memories with her is helping her make coffee.  She would plop me up on the counter and let me scoop the coffee grounds into the coffee maker.  Then we would sit there and watch it drip.  I thought I was such a big girl helping out!

Speaking of coffee, coffee time is 3:00pm.  (That has held true with my grandma, my mom, and now my sister and I some days!)  She liked hers black with no sugar.  Guess she wouldn't approve of my Vanilla Caramel creamer.  My sister recently did this fabulous piece to commemorate the almost daily event...

We spent hours watching Price Is Right.  Seems like it was always on tv when we would go visit her.

She loved the Dallas Cowboys, go figure.

She made the best homemade biscuits, fried chicken, and gravy.  Yum!

She would always give us cash for Christmas, birthdays, etc. and it would always be in 1's.  We would freak out thinking we had so much money, when it was really 20 1's.  Smart lady.

She loved peppermint candy.  Always had some around and we were willing to dig into her stash!

She called Doritos, "Dordidoes." Lol!

She had the best costume jewelry and fancy hats.  I loved playing dress-up in her long pearl necklaces as a child.  One fancy hat made it to college with my sister.

Her mother's rocking chairs have been passed down through the family and they are now on my front porch!  I'm sure I will enjoy rocking baby Haven there. :)

Her first and only time to travel by airplane was in her 60's.

She had a birth mark on her cheek that looked like Mickey Mouse.  But in her later years, my sister would joke with her that it looked like a Playboy bunny. She loved to cut up and be silly so she got a kick out of that.  Played along and they had a whole running joke about the men at the assisted living place coming after Meme for her good looks!

When she was around 6 years old, she got in trouble for riding a bull.  Who does that?!  I guess she did in the 1920's!

She came to one of my bridal showers.  My grandma has a picture of Meme and I at the shower on her fridge.  She gave me this sweet gift.  It says "The Russell Friske Family."

I just looked inside and at that time her 89 year old handwriting warms my heart.  "Brittany and Russell, on March 24, 2007, at Bridal Shower, by Meme.  I love you lots.  I hope your life will be very very happy."  So special.

And I cannot leave out a funny quote from the last time I visited her (my mom and sister have seen her since.)  I forget what we were talking about but someone said "Clean as a whistle."  To which she replied, "but some whistles are dirty!"  Haha!!!  Still makes me crack up thinking about it.

One of the first times she met Russell, he was napping on my grandma's couch.  She walked by with her walker, bent down, and kissed him on the cheek!!!  And she had a certain kiss... she moved her lips really fast and said "num num num num num."  Scared him to death but it was hilarious to watch!!  She wasn't shy with her affection for my hubby!  Haha!

I could go on and on and on... I love her so much.  And I know she loved me too.  She knew about the baby and what we were going to name her.  And in the last 2 weeks she was coherent enough to remember that we were naming our little girl Haven and to accept Gran's offer to buy me a baby book from her.  So glad we did that last weekend.

But most of all, I am so thankful and blessed that she brought this lady into the world...

And that she brought this lady into the world...

And that she brought these ladies (and young man) into the world...

And in June I will be bringing this sweet girl into the world...

That's what I would call a pretty awesome line of people!!  I love you Meme and you will be missed.  I'll see you again one day.  :)