Friday, September 14, 2012

Celebrating Grandma Lori




Tomorrow would be my Grandma Lori's 90th birthday.  It's the first time September 15th has come around since she passed away on March 3rd.

Oh, how we all miss her!

I will say, Grandma would not be happy with me if she knew I was crying over her today. She would say, "Meggy Dear*, now go fix yourself up! Let's go shopping, and get Chinese food for lunch and celebrate!"

So, I'm not going to cry about her today. I'm going shopping and finding some good Chinese food for lunch!

*She always called me "Meggy Dear" and she said it in this certain voice that I can just hear in my ears every time I think about her.


But before I put my lipstick on and head out, here's a few of my favorite things about Grandma Lori:

  • She graduated from St. Mary's College and majored in home economics
  • She danced the polka (especially well with my grandfather, Papa Tom)
  • She cooked every Thanksgiving dinner for 17 people in a kitchen the size of a postage stamp
  • She taught home economics at an all girls catholic high school
  • She loved margaritas
  • She had impeccable manners
  • She reupholstered her own sofa
  • She laughed a lot
  • She laughed so hard sometimes she made noises!
  • She sewed her daughter's homecoming dress
  • She sewed my prom dress
  • She cheated at Rummikub
  • She knew every rule of etiquette Emily Post's ever wrote
  • She wore a fabulous red jacket with a black velvet collar
  • She planted red geraniums 
  • She opened an antique shop, Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe in Pinetop, Arizona
  • She decorated wedding cakes
  • She ate sweet and sour pork at chinese restaurants
  • She had 3 wonderful children whom she loved very much
  • She had 9 grandchildren whom she called "Scallywags"
  • She cursed at another driver when she had 2 of the grandchildren in her car 
  • She never lived that down
  • She laughed a lot - did I mention that already?
  • She could never find her purse
  • She loved lipstick and perfume
  • She wore beautiful pajamas
  • She made a mean meatloaf

I've got my lipstick on now so I'm heading out. I love you, Grandma. Happy birthday!

Eleanor Barbara Barany Gilroy
on her wedding day
November 17, 1945




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