Memories of my childhood with Grandma

I was almost 8 when my Grandma passed away from a cerebral hemorrhage.  She left this life quickly.

I have many good memories of her even though I was pretty young when she passed away.

Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen lived in a home at the end of our street.  We spent a fair amount of time with Grandma. Grandpa worked the graveyard shift at the Brickyard and was usually sleeping during the day and could not be disturbed.  He didn't have much of sense of humor in those days and you didn't want to wake him up.

Grandma had me help her make bread and cookies for grandpa's lunch. I loved cooking with her and eating dinner there was the best!  I remember one time I was staying with her during lunch and she fixed me a peanut butter and honey sandwich.  I wouldn't eat the sandwich and she put the honey on first and then the peanut butter.  Not the way we did it at home at all.  She actually got mad at me and I didn't like that... I ate the sandwich.

She helped my mom with her sewing of dresses and clothes for my sister Laurie and myself.  She went shopping with mom and me and I remember traveling in their old car to Sugar House to do some shopping.  Now in those days you didn't just wake up and go shopping.. you put on a nice dress and cleaned up and wore white gloves and  maybe even a bonnet. Oh what fun us girls would have together.  I remember one time she dropped us off after a shopping trip in front of our home and I got out of the car and ran in front of Grandma just as she started up to head for home down the street.  It knocked me to the ground and Grandma was so upset she might have hurt me.  She helped carry me into the house to check me out. Of course I was crying and hurt but nothing serious.  I made it through the incident with just a few scrapes and bruises.  What a lucky girl I was and I never stepped in front of car like that again!

Grandma would have me and my cousins stay overnight sometimes.  We had so much fun in their basement. they had big recreation room with a lot of rugs so we would pull each other around on those rugs until someone would fall off and laugh and laugh.  Sometimes she would have to get after us to go to sleep.  Quite honestly I don't know how she stood us sometimes with all the noise we would make.   They had a cold room under their front porch downstairs that they kept bottled fruit and vegetables in and a life size mannequin that would adjust to different dress sizes. Grandma used that when sewing her own dresses to fit them and hem them properly.  We all loved to play with that thing, it didn't have a head,  and it would get pretty scarey sometimes thinking of that thing in the cold room.  We would talk about it coming out at night and getting one of us!  It always spooked me... I never wanted to go into that cold room.

Morning was always hard when we stayed over because we were all so excited to be together and Grandpa would be home trying to sleep.  She tried her best to keep us quiet so he could sleep. She always made us a yummy breakfast before we left to go home.

My memories of Grandma are of her patience with me and love. I am so lucky to have met her and have the memories that I do of her.