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Today was the graveside service for my grandmother Ila Terry O’Bryant.  She was a remarkable woman.  From the time I was very young, I always remembered feeling an intense sense of love when I was around my grandmother.  As I got older, I longed for and cherished the moments I had with her.  I have felt a special closeness between us, partly because I was named after her first child who suffered a tragic death when she was 2. 

Grandma was a wonderful storyteller.  I loved to listen to her tell stories of her childhood and family life.  I remember when we’d go to visit, I’d  sometimes stay up and just listen as she talked with my mother.  When I was older she’d tell me stories and show me pictures.  I have fond memories of sitting on her bed listening to her tell stories.  She kept all her picture books in the front room and I enjoyed looking through them and imagining what life was like when she was young.

 

She always smelled so good.  I remember that I loved the way her lotion smelled because it smelled like my grandma.  When I was little she gave me a small container of her lotion.  When I was back home in Ohio, I’d open up that lotion and smell it and think about my grandma.

Grandma loved to play games.  I learned more games at Grandma’s house than anywhere else.  We enjoyed games like Rook, Shuffle board (in the basement), and fast scrabble. 

Grandma had this incredible ceramics set-up in her basement.  She made her own ceramics and had bottles and bottles of paint.  She would let us pick one out and paint it then take it home.

She had a little kitchen set with dishes that she kept in the playroom and on occasion she’d take it down and make a little lunch of bite-sized food that we could eat on the dishes.

Grandma was a wonderful gardener.  She grew raspberries and strawberries and had the most beautiful roses.  I remember how she liked to cut her roses and place them in vases throughout the house.  The smell of lilys reminds me of what it smelled like outside of Grandma’s home.  Grandma made fruit roll-ups and homemade jams.  she loved fresh fruit and in later years I remember that when Grandma was around, there was always plenty of fresh fruit.  She also regularly made fruit slushies.

I remember Grandma had these old champagne style bottles with drips of different colors of wax that had dried to cover the bottles.  She used them as candleholders when we had a mexican-style dinner.

(some of these pictures were borrowed from my cousin’s blogs–without permission ;))