We love you and miss you Grandma

 

(Anika, Grandma, and me)

My Grandma passed away on February 22, 2010.  She was my mom's mom and her name was Fay Washburn Truman.  Her whole life was focused on her faith and her family.  She was a great example to all of us.  Here is just a walk down memory lane.

• My first memories of my grandma are traveling to her house and playing with my cousins (I just found out that she had 46 grandkids ... that is a lot of cousins).  Every time I would walk through her door she would be waiting to give me a "heart to heart" hug while calling me her "precious".  I always felt special at my grandma's house.
• She was always willing to listen to my problems, and I would often turn to her for some sound advice.  She was always interested in what I had to say, even if it was as trivial as a bad haircut.  She knew how to make my pessimistic outlook into an optimistic one.
• My grandma wasn't able to come to our wedding due to health issues, so Nathan and I dropped by her house on our way home from the wedding.  I remember how she held both of our hands and counseled us to love each other unconditionally.  She then welcomed Nathan into our family and assured us that everything was going to work out.  
•  This is a borrowed memory, because I wasn't actually there.  The day before my grandma had her stroke, she was in the hospital for other issues, and my parents went to go visit her for the day to keep her company.  They took our digital camera, which had about 2 GB of photos and videos of Olivia on it.  My mom said that while grandma looked at each photo, my grandma said that she felt that Olivia was looking and talking right to her, and she just had to talk back.  So my grandma "talked" to Olivia for about an hour and a half.  Grandma sure loved her family, and I hope she knew that we sure loved her too.

Olivia's middle name is Fay, for my grandma.  When we told grandma that we were naming her that, she couldn't understand why we would do that, she was humbled by our offer.  We had to remind grandma that she meant a lot to us and we wanted Olivia to follow her example of loyalty to faith and family. We hope that our memories and love for grandma Fay will guide Olivia and us in our lives to live a more selfless and focused life.  We love you grandma and we will miss you!