Some More Memories

03 March 2012; Grumpy's Lonely Castle --

The other day, as we were investigating what valuable (sentimentally as well as monetarily) the things that the Grand Mother had stashed away in all of her "secret" hidey holes, Grumpy happened on an especially poignant poem that he wanted to share with the readers. [Grumpy has not read this poem in its entirety until this moment; I only read far enough to realize what a treasure of thoughts and emotions it contains. So I will cry as I write this post.]

As an introduction to showing the scanned images of Grandma's handwritten copy of this poem, the reader should keep in mind that she was with her Mother (Great Grandma Noble) when she died of pancreatic cancer in early summer 1971, after having endured the discomforts of Chemotherapy and perhaps also radiation treatments. [Now, perhaps you can understand why the Grand Mother chose not to have Chemo or radiation treatments for her cancer.]

I will transcribe the words as best as I can perceive them on this wrinkled, old and stained piece of paper:

This is the front side

"My Mother --"

"I held her hand as she died

or rather she held mine.

"It seemed so long.

I could only stand by

watching life flow from her --

So frail she was.

So little and so weak.

"Oh God, how much strength

it takes ....

To die.

And so I stood,

Her hand clutching mine ---

Her every breath a moan.

... and this is the back side.

"My own body

Grew weary 

Ached ---

Until I suddenly remembered

The times when I was little and afraid

And tired and even cross.

What strength there was 

And what comfort, 

Security,

Came to me from Mother.

"And now

My strength is hers.

To comfort, to console,

To reassure."

"Yea, tho' I walk thro' the ..... "

Blessed Jesus!

"Into thy hands I commit ... "

"My mother

I held her hand as she died."

And I held Mother's hand as she drew her last breath. Now I know how she felt when she held her own Mother's hand -- and how she felt as she wrote this poem.

Sincerely, Not so Grumpy

Some Memorable Pictures

February 23rd; Grumpy's Lonely Castle --

Well, much has happened since my last post on November 28th. Everything seemed so positive then; little did I know that Mother's days would be cut so short in the New Year. In spite of the sadness that we all feel with losing her company after these many years (63 years, 7 months and 8 days!!), Grumpy is personally thankful that God kept her from suffering pain, and He further shielded her from a prolonged bout of forced inactivity.

But the reason I have decided to make this post, wasn't because I am feeling sorry for myself -- plenty of other people seem to be doing that -- much more than I deserve, I think. No, the reason I am making this post is to show off some heretofore unseen (by Grumpy and many, I suspect) photos of Mother at various stages of her life. Particularly before Grumpy ever knew her. [I just got most of these from Niece-in-law Betsy]

Let me start with this photo on the right, which I may have shared before. This is a "formal" portrait of a little curly-haired 2 year old standing with a very prim and coy expression.

Next is a photo of her when she was about 8 months old. Now, who does she remind you of as you examine this determined little face and stubborn expression?

Moving on to another photo of a formal nature, is this photo of only her upper body, and she is showing that famous dimpled-grin. I believe this may have been taken by the same photographer as the formal, standing-one above.

Now, as Mother grew older, she became the owner/keeper of one of her infamous pets: Fuzzy the Badger. The dog, also shown in the picture, may have been her dog, Patty about which she had many tales to tell.

Ha! ha! Fooled you, didn't I?! This is actually a photo of Mother with four (or more) of the puppies that her dog Patty had one time. She told a story about trading one of the puppies for a Gypsy baby ... Grandma Noble quashed the deal, insisting that Elynor had to give one of her puppies to the Gypsy mother, but couldn't take the baby in trade.

No, here on left is the real photo of Mother with her pet badger Fuzzy, eating an ice cream cone being held by big sister Margaret. This photo was taken when Fuzzy was a year old -- after he had disappeared in the Fall and was supposed to be lost. Of course he reappeared from his hibernation in the Spring much to the delight of his young mistress.

I wish we had a more complete set of stories that she could tell about the antics of Fuzzy: curling himself around her neck like a fancy fur wrap (frightening some tourists who thought Fuzzy was a skunk!); disappearing after the first summer that Mother had him -- he hibernated under Grandpa Noble's concrete garage floor!; the way he would steal Mother's ice cream without breaking the cone that held it; the way he could open the screen door to let himself into the "Squaw Cooler" (the restaurant where Grandma Noble prepared home-cooked meals for truckers and tourists).

This picture of Mother when she was four years old, appears to have been taken when she was in trouble for something. Written on the back of the photo indicates that it was taken around Easter in 1934 -- she would have been about 3 and a half. Perhaps it is my own guilty nature here, but Grumpy thinks that she must have been caught doing something she shouldn't have been doing.

When Mother was seven years old, she must have visited a ranch where she got to ride this beautiful Shetland pony. This photo was taken in 1937, according to what is written on the back of the photo.

To close out this series of old-time photographic memories of the childhood of the girl whom Grumpy chose to be his wife, I present the picture that she gave me when we first decided to "get serious" about each other; I was in the U.S. Navy, stationed either in Ottumwa IA or Corpus Christi TX. [Note her hand-written message to me along the bottom, "Love Elynor".]

Is it any wonder that a young, 19-year old guy would "go for" a girl like that?