Grandma Evelyn's birthday

Remembering my mother in law today. She would have been 100 today! She was pretty amazing. She had a garden until well into her nineties, complete with a 30 foot row of berries, a fig tree, 4 peach trees, a persimmon tree and a big old plum tree that was planted when they moved into the house in the 40's. She loved to hang her clothes on the line and did her dishes by hand.

 One of the things she loved doing was canning things. These were the last cherries she ever canned. They got eaten of course, they don't last forever, but she sure was proud of them. Berries, peaches and figs were mainly eaten raw or frozen. But the biggest majority of produce was given away. She told me that's the main reason to have a garden, to be able to share it. She and my dad had that in common. Always sharing.

Her yard was huge for a city yard. That last year, we grew tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans (several varieties) potatoes, zucchini and sunflowers. It wasn't a big garden that year, She knew she was "fading" and didn't want me to be doing a lot of work. But we had a lot of fun that summer, tending our little part of heaven.

I met my mother in law when I was about nine years old. Her son was the first boy I ever "liked" and I "carried a torch" for him for a lot of years. We dated awhile in high school, but ended up going our separate ways and marrying others. Thirty years later, we both ended up divorced and married each other.

She was way ahead of her time. As liberal as they come, we had some very interesting political discussions which were quite a challenge to this lifelong Republican. I could never be anything other than Pro LIFE.... but she helped change my mind about gay marriage. Her attitude was let them be whoever they are and don't try to dictate what they do. When you put it that way it doesn't make sense to try and oppose it. She had a gay cousin and was glad he was happy with his partner after he initially married and raised a family.

The last couple years were not pretty ones, as she had a dead hip bone and didn't want surgery. Eventually dementia claimed her, She was always wanting to help others though. She never thought of herself as old. Even after she was in a facility she wanted to make sure I gave away the persimmons and didn't let them rot.

Rest in peace, dear one. Thank you for a lot of great memories, and for loving me.