"You Sure Are Nice"

June 28, 2008

Dear Family,

Happy Saturday! I hope everyone had a great week. Things are good here in Snowflake. Aunt Julie and her family are here, and we are having a great time visiting. It is really being good for dad. I haven't seen him doing so well in months. His color is great, he is much stronger, and his mind is clearing. He still struggles to remember many things, but he seems to be understanding what is happening right now most of the time, and remembering for longer periods.

It's hard to know if this means dad is getting better, or if he is just doing better for a short time and will go backwards again. Still, it's wonderful he is doing so well right now, especially while Julie is here.

Mom is a rock, like always. She is so positive and strong. She told us yesterday about something that happened Thursday morning. At first she was a little hesitant to even tell us, she doesn't want to make light of dad's disabilities, but she also needs to be able to see the humorous side of this disease or it would drown her.

“I was helping dad get ready in the morning,” she told us. “He has trouble remembering how to shave, or for that matter, how to put on his shoes. He will sit on his stool and just look at the socks he is holding until I finally help him.”

“Anyway, dad must have been feeling pretty good, because after I helped him brush his teeth and fix his hair, he turned to me and said, 'you sure are nice.'”

“I told him thank you, then he said, 'I sure do like you.  Maybe we should get married.”

“Well, I didn't know what to say to that for a second.  I was kind of taken back, you know. Finally, I smiled and told dad that we already are married. He looked at me for a minute, then said, 'Oh. How does Eleanor feel about that?'”

(Remember, Eleanor is mom's name.)

“I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry,” mom told us with a little, forlorn laugh, “but in the end I decided I'd better laugh.”

I think she was right.

We sure do love them both, and all of you. Have a great weekend.

Love, Aunt Gale

My Grandmother's Old Fashioned Garden

My Great Grandma Russell died on March 23, 1964.  I don't really remember her very well, she was very old and we didn't visit her that often.  Mostly what I remember was that she had a pair of love birds in a big bird cage, and they fascinated me.

When Grandma passed away her children decided that all of the great-grandchildren should sing at her funeral.  There were a lot of us, but we all came to the church the day before and practiced, and then sang My Grandmother's Old Fashioned Garden for her funeral.  I loved that song, and although I have never sung it since, I still remember the words. 

My grandmother dear
Has a garden,
Old fashioned and quaint
As can be
The flowers so rare,
That none can compare,
'Neath the plum and apricotAnd cherry tree.

Would you like me to
Show you the garden?
Then follow me now
And we'll go
'Round the old grape-vine arbor,
Back of the walk,
Where the birds and the butterflies
And flowers grow.

The daisies and lilies
Are telling
Of grandmother's kind,
Tender care
Sweet william and peas,
Heliatrope and heartsease,
And violets, modest
'Tho fragrant and fair.

I still long for
My grandmother's garden;
With hollyhocks,
Stately and tall
And sometimes in my dreams
I see her, it seems,
My dear grandmother
Standing there close to the wall.

In my grandmother's
Old fashioned garden,
There are flow'rs
Of every hue
Daffodils, pansies,
And hyacynths
And old fashioned pinks
Are there too

I belong to
My grandmother's garden,
I was picked
From the family tree;
So out in my grandmother's
Old fashioned garden,
If you come there
You will find me.