{"id":377,"date":"2016-01-08T12:52:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T12:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2016\/01\/08\/stubborn-and-spunky\/"},"modified":"2020-10-28T17:06:36","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T17:06:36","slug":"stubborn-and-spunky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2016\/01\/08\/stubborn-and-spunky\/","title":{"rendered":"Stubborn and Spunky"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"old<\/a><\/div>\n

I went to visit my Grandma last week. (She is the girl with glasses in the picture above.) She is 90 years old and in a wheelchair since she had a stroke a year and a half ago. \u00a0That sounds sad, doesn’t it? \u00a0It is sad but at the same time, Grandma is the spunkiest lady I know. She is absolutely determined not to let a little thing like a stroke stop her.<\/p>\n

Her right side was paralyzed. \u00a0Grandma is right-handed. \u00a0In recent years she has taken up poetry writing and oil painting. \u00a0She still does both, just with her left hand. \u00a0She painstakingly types out her poems on her tablet, which she has learned to use since her stroke, and sends them to my aunt who prints them out for her. \u00a0She attends a poetry class at her assisted living facility. \u00a0Her oil paintings are amazingly good, I would be impressed if she did them with her right hand. \u00a0The fact that she has not only taught herself how to paint but does it with her non-dominant hand is truly impressive. \u00a0She also used to be very into photography. \u00a0She can’t manage the controls on a fancier camera but she still takes photographs with her little point-and-shoot camera.<\/p>\n

Grandma is stubborn and sentimental and opinionated. \u00a0She loves a good cry over a book, if she hasn’t soaked her shirt with tears then the book wasn’t good enough. \u00a0She thinks everyone needs to be married, the sooner the better. \u00a0Jello salad is the perfect accompaniment to any meal. \u00a0My grandfather is the man every man is measured against. \u00a0My son is currently the favorite great-grandson because he is taking manufacturing in school and my grandfather owned a machine shop. \u00a0Grandma thinks every woman should wear stockings and scolds you if you don’t. \u00a0She scolds the men in the family if they forget to wear their wedding rings. \u00a0Ice cream is a major food group. \u00a0She isn’t crazy about being in assisted living because she is surrounded by old people. \u00a0She obviously doesn’t really believe she fits into that category. \u00a0I think I might agree with her. \u00a0I hope when I am ninety I have half her zest for life and willingness to learn new skills.<\/p>\n

\"quilt\"<\/a><\/div>\n

While I was visiting I asked her about some family items she had given me when she had moved out of her condo. \u00a0I like to know the stories behind them. \u00a0The quilt was made by my great-great-grandmother about 75 years ago. \u00a0Grandma remembers coming home and seeing the quilting frame set up in the living room. \u00a0This was back when quilts really were made out of scraps of fabric and worn out clothes, not brand new material bought from the quilting store. \u00a0If anyone knows how to care for such an old quilt I would love to know. \u00a0I am afraid to wash it for fear it might be damaged but I would really like to display it instead of just having it in my linen closet. \u00a0It is so pretty.<\/p>\n

\"pickle<\/a><\/div>\n

This pickle jar belonged to my great-grandfather, except he didn’t use it to make pickles. \u00a0He used it to make alcohol during prohibition. \u00a0He was German and liked his beer so when prohibition went into effect he had to do something.<\/p>\n

\"sleigh<\/a><\/div>\n

These are the bells off of the sleigh my grandfather had. \u00a0When he and my grandmother were courting (what a nice old-fashioned word) \u00a0he would pick her up and take her for sleigh rides. \u00a0Doesn’t that sound like something straight out of These Happy Golden Years?<\/em> \u00a0A different era, I know, but still I love the image I have of them all wrapped up and flying through the snow with the sound of the bells ringing around them. \u00a0It makes going for coffee or to a movie sound so prosaic.<\/p>\n

These are just a few of the family items I have. \u00a0I love the connection to a past and to stories of people and times I never knew. \u00a0I love the stories of my Grandma, not the old lady sitting in the wheelchair but the girl riding amongst the sound of sleigh bells next to the man she loved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I went to visit my Grandma last week. (She is the girl with glasses in the picture above.) She is 90 years old and in a wheelchair since she had a stroke a year and a half ago. \u00a0That sounds sad, doesn’t it? \u00a0It is sad but at the same time, Grandma is the spunkiest lady I know. She is absolutely determined not to let a little thing like a stroke stop her. Her right side was paralyzed. \u00a0Grandma is right-handed. \u00a0In recent years she has taken up poetry writing and oil painting. \u00a0She still does both, just with her left hand. \u00a0She painstakingly types out her poems on her tablet, which she has learned to use since her stroke, and sends them to my aunt who prints them out for her. \u00a0She attends a poetry class at her assisted living facility. \u00a0Her oil paintings are amazingly good, I would be impressed if she did them with her right hand. \u00a0The fact that she has not only taught herself how to paint but does it with her non-dominant hand is truly impressive. \u00a0She also used to be very into photography. \u00a0She can’t manage the controls on a fancier camera but she still takes photographs with her little point-and-shoot camera. Grandma is stubborn and sentimental and opinionated. \u00a0She loves a good cry over a book, if she hasn’t soaked her shirt with tears then the book wasn’t good enough. \u00a0She thinks everyone needs to be married, the sooner the better. \u00a0Jello salad is the perfect accompaniment to any meal. \u00a0My grandfather is the man every man is measured against. \u00a0My son is currently the favorite great-grandson because he is taking manufacturing in school and my grandfather owned a machine shop. \u00a0Grandma thinks every woman should wear stockings and scolds you if you don’t. \u00a0She scolds the men in the family if they forget to wear their wedding rings. \u00a0Ice cream is a major food group. \u00a0She isn’t crazy about being in assisted living because she is surrounded by old people. \u00a0She obviously doesn’t really believe she fits into that category. \u00a0I think I might agree with her. \u00a0I hope when I am ninety I have half her zest for life and willingness to learn new skills. While I was visiting I asked her about some family items she had given me when she had moved out of her condo. \u00a0I like to know the stories behind them. \u00a0The quilt was made by my great-great-grandmother about 75 years ago. \u00a0Grandma remembers coming home and seeing the quilting frame set up in the living room. \u00a0This was back when quilts really were made out of scraps of fabric and worn out clothes, not brand new material bought from the quilting store. \u00a0If anyone knows how to care for such an old quilt I would love to know. \u00a0I am afraid to wash it for fear it might be damaged but I would really like to display it instead of just having it in my linen closet. \u00a0It is so pretty. This pickle jar belonged to my great-grandfather, except he didn’t use it to make pickles. \u00a0He used it to make alcohol during prohibition. \u00a0He was German and liked his beer so when prohibition went into effect he had to do something. These are the bells off of the sleigh my grandfather had. \u00a0When he and my grandmother were courting (what a nice old-fashioned word) \u00a0he would pick her up and take her for sleigh rides. \u00a0Doesn’t that sound like something straight out of These Happy Golden Years? \u00a0A different era, I know, but still I love the image I have of them all wrapped up and flying through the snow with the sound of the bells ringing around them. \u00a0It makes going for coffee or to a movie sound so prosaic. These are just a few of the family items I have. \u00a0I love the connection to a past and to stories of people and times I never knew. \u00a0I love the stories of my Grandma, not the old lady sitting in the wheelchair but the girl riding amongst the sound of sleigh bells next to the man she loved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grandma","category-memories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2889,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377\/revisions\/2889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}