Sentimental Sunday - Scentimental Suitcase

My grandma, the one I brag about all the time on this blog, has infused my children (and my siblings and I) with a wonder and love of the outdoors, science, birds, rocks, learning, reading, etc.  When the kids find an interesting rock or see a new bird they haven't seen before, they can't wait to tell Grandma P. about it.  When she had triple bypass surgery when my oldest was about 7 years old, he took two little home-grown crystals from a science kit to the hospital, for her to look at and to keep her company.  She still displays them proudly on her end table of "specials." 

Several months ago, I took the kids to visit her and she recruited them to help her lug two very old-timey (and very heavy!) suitcases out of her storage closet.  She popped them open, and to their wonder and delight, they were full of beautiful specimens of rocks that she and Grandpa P. had collected on their many forays out into the deserts of Utah.  At 90 years old, she could remember several of the rocks, where they found them, even telling interesting stories about their discovery.  She knew what each specimen was and let the kids pick out as many as they wanted.  In the end, both suitcases ended up in the back of my minivan, with kids squabbling over who got what. 

One of my sons, who has been collecting rocks since he was a tiny boy and who idolizes his grandma, has a veritable rock museum in his room, with all sorts of interesting and unique rocks and minerals.  He ended up with most of the collection, and put the empty suitcase in the garage.  I cleaned the garage for several hours yesterday and found the suitcase.  It's pretty trashed, and my first thought was to throw it away or send it to the local thrift store.  I opened it to make sure there was nothing left inside, and the smell of my grandma's house hit me so hard I started to cry.  After holding it and sniffing it for a few minutes (it's a lovely smell!), I closed it back up and put it in a safe place in the garage.  Needless to say, I won't be getting rid of the suitcase. 

I think it's interesting how smells can take you back so sharply and suddenly to a memory you hadn't even remembered you'd forgotten.  My mom wore a particular brand of blush that had a scent to it when I was little, that I loved.  She also wore Jovan Musk. Both of those scents take me back to a little-girl-cuddle, nuzzling my face against hers. My dad wore Russian Leather cologne.  He asked for some a couple Christmases ago, and I managed to find some.  As soon as I smelled it I was back on a weekend visit, riding on his shoulders at the park.  My mom's house has a specific smell, and every time we get a package from her the kids love to sniff at it.  "It smells like Grandma's house!" Scents have a very nostalgic element to them.

Sorting Saturday and Happy Birthday, Grandma P!

Grandma P last Christmas

It was my Wonder Grandma's birthday this week.  91 years young!  She is an amazing lady, I talked about her before on my first Thankful Thursday post.  She works out at the gym three times a week, is in better shape than I am (I'm not kidding), and is sharp as a really sharp tack.  I was able to go with her Tuesday night to her church women's group and listen to her talk about part of her life - the nine years she spent married to her second husband, Dr. Robert C. Pendleton, who was an amazing, kind, man, and a genius.  He was head of the Radiological Health Department at the University of Utah and was one of the, if not THE, biggest force that stopped above ground testing of atomic bombs in the US.  He was very outspoken against the government, dedicated his life to studying the impact of the fallout on plant and animal life, and was interviewed by People Magazine in 1980, at the request of the children of Dick Powell, John Wayne, Susan Hayward, and others, because they all died of cancer after filming in Utah's west desert, downwind of atomic testing.  Just a wonderful man.  He died on July 10, 1982, when I was almost 7 years old.

Grandpa Pendleton loved hiking, fishing, hunting and camping

Anyways, what does this have to do with sorting?  Well, I have the unique privilege of having my 91-year-old grandmother, who can remember some of the smallest details and faces and stories from her life and others over the last 85 years.  She has these great old photo albums and she knows who almost everyone is and the stories behind the pictures, and I need to get them scanned in and tag each person in the album so we don't lose that great information.  I need to get her to write down more of her life story; this woman lived through the Depression, World War II - she sent my grandpa off to war as a Sea Bee, and saw him home after he was sent home with malaria.  She moved all over Utah and Nevada, has read and learned about everything related to geography and history, knows about flowers and rocks and birds, she was president of the Salt Lake Chapter of Dental Assistants, and then has had that amazing chapter with Grandpa P.  And in the 30 years since he's died, she's parasailed, skied, hiked mountains, visited Nova Scotia, ridden horses, spun around a racetrack, and lived through bypass surgery, hip replacement, an artery replacement in her leg, she's our bionic grandma!

I need to sort through her mind (sounds creepier than I intend it) and take advantage of the time I have with her so I won't lose any part of her amazing story.  She's in great health and I pray all the time that she'll have many more years with us - I can talk to her about everything and she always cheers me up with a bright, "Hello, Pretty Girl!" whenever I call or visit.  I'm so thankful for her and her influence in my life.

Thankful Thursday - My Grandma

Grandma at her 90th birthday bash

I'd like to take this opportunity to say a big THANK YOU to my grandmother, Eva.  This amazing woman is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge, and has been one of my biggest resources when it comes to family history.  She'll be 91 years old next month, and she still remembers the most wonderful memories and stories about her own family and my grandpa's.  In face, she's probably the sharpest person I know.  My grandpa, Gene Rhinehart, saw me once when I was a baby, and died when I was a little girl. I never met his mother, Goldie Agatha Myers, she died long before I was born.  But because of my research and talking about them to Grandma "P", I feel a closeness and a relationship with them that all of you genealogists out there know what I'm talking about.

Besides her fountain of knowledge, she was also my biggest supporter in college and my early genealogy career.  She would drive one hour to pick me up from college, along with my dirty laundry, drive me an hour north to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, take my laundry home and wash and fold it, pick me back up, and drive me back to Provo.  Sometimes she would just sit and read next to me while I did hours of research.  And after all of that, she'd take me out to the Olive Garden and then grocery shopping.  She traded her Buick station wagon for a little car for me to drive.  And once I graduated and starting taking clients, she would watch my baby for me so I could spend more hours at the library, until I got too far along with my second child and had to give up professional research for a while.

For my graduation present from college, she gave me the Cambridge Glass Company glassware, with the Rosepoint design that my great-grandmother had etched herself, and which she had given to my grandma for her wedding.  She also gave me some beautiful crocheted doilies that her own mother had made.  She even let me borrow the beautiful brown dress with the suede collar and cuffs that she bought and wore for my grandpa when he was sent home with malaria from the Guadal Canal during World War II, for a Big Band era dance, even though my waist wasn't nearly as tiny as hers was and we both worried the old stitching might not hold (it did.)

She's endured tape- and video-recorded sessions for life story classes and papers, with me and my children, has been my friend and confidante, has inspired my children with a love for nature and birds and rocks and history, taken us on discovery outings, traveled with us on family trips, let us all camp at her house when we've come in from out of town, and been a lovely and wonderful person to know.  She still works out three times a week, "pumpin' iron", as she says, at the gym. And she always has cookies for us in her tupperware container. 

Thank you, Grandma!

Riding in a racecar on her 90th birthday