Aunt Catherine would have been 97 if we could have wished her a Happy Birthday February 9, 2015. Our beloved granddaughter would have been 27. She was a special gift born on a favorite aunt’s 70th birthday. Jessica was the first granddaughter after four precious grandsons. A dear friend of hers posted on Facebook, reminding me of the plan to do a memory post for their special day.
My Aunt Catherine was a wonderful homemaker. Her house was always company ready. Clean and welcoming. I loved that! She never forgot to send a card for birthdays and special occasions. And it was always on time. Not like my annual Christmas letters, many of them are still in my ‘whatever room’ That’s another story.
Jessica was precious in many different ways; too many to record all of them. At less than a year old she was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. Devastated but not defeated her mother, Michele, became nurse along with being mom to her four children.
We all learned how to do many things to help care for her. As they grew older the boys helped too. We discovered that Ron’s strength when he patted her back was a great help in keeping her lungs clear. So many memories; some of them made while the boys stayed with us when Jess had to spend time at the doctors or at the hospital.
Many miracles happened when God touched her on the way to X-ray. The doctor expected she would need to be admitted for a hospital stay. Often by the time they did the test, the Lord had answered prayer and she was allowed to go home instead.
At that time the average CF patient was in the hospital about 6 to 8 times a year for up to two weeks. Because of many people praying and God hearing and answering; Jessica’s hospital stays were much fewer and usually only a few days instead of weeks.
The snow outside in Michigan this last few days reminded me of a fun time when Jessica and one of the boys were here. I loved the fact that early in her life she called her brothers “my boys”. So many wonderful memories they crowd into my mind like storm clouds racing across the sky.
She was the little sister but she seldom called them by their individual names, just “my boys”.
Back to the snow memory 🙂
The snow had fallen and was sparkly, unbroken by any prints of any kind, just a yard of pure white. Jessica said, “I’d like to just run out there barefoot, it’s so pretty” This was our fragile health, precious Jessica so what did this Gramma Jaki say? Anyone who knows me won’t be surprised to hear that I said, “Let’s do it”. And we did; all of us with coats and hats on with bare feet ran out across the new fallen snow and back. Was it fun? Certainly! Then the grandmother Jaki took over, we prayed Jessica would have no problems, dried off carefully, bundled up to get toasty warm again, giggling in delight for the fun memory we just made.
We finally told Michele after we knew that Jessica suffered no problems from our fun!
I’m thinking about planning a book of lots of fun memories. Do you think folks would enjoy that book? Please let me know with your comments on this blog.
A memory that surfaces almost every time I think of Jessica and her brothers before she was old enough to call them ‘my boys’ occurred in the back seat of a car. Michele had turned around to tell Jessica she shouldn’t punch her brothers. She said, “little girls don’t punch, they slap”. Jessica was in the middle seat belt with a brother on each side of her. Michele turned back to drive away but I didn’t. Jessica waited until her mom wasn’t looking, turned toward each of the boys who had been teasing her, doubled up her fists and punched both of them at once. I turned around very quickly so she couldn’t see me laugh.
A warm summer evening a few year later we had a small swimming pool set up in our back yard for the grandkids. It was only about 10′ across and 14″ deep.but we all loved it. It needed cleaning often to keep the water and plastic pool clean. It was the boys turn to clean the pool. Jessica wasn’t supposed to be touching any of the scum that occasionally invaded the pool. After watching the boys for a short time she said, “Gilby, you’re missing some dirt, you need to do more, Cedric you’re doing a good job. And Eric, you’re fired”. Such a cute, fussy boss!
She was a born caregiver and was a tremendous help when I stayed with my mother for several summers after she was 90 years old. Mom was sick for a while the first year I stayed with her. I went to Applegate mid April and stayed until mid December that first year.
Michele moved to our home in Port Huron with her children so she could be closer to Applegate . She and the children lived there to help take care of Mom. Most of the days they spent time with us at the house As Jessica got old enough she spent a lot of time with Mom.
Soon she and her brothers were also helping Michele deliver newspapers. Jessica was only four! Guess who received the most tips particularly at Christmas?
After that first year my sister and I took turns being with Mom. I did mostly summer and fall and she was there with her winter and spring. Memories from those eight years could fill another book.
Often during my summers as Jessica grew into a young girl she stayed with mom so we were free to do some of the other necessary things. She became quite adept at getting simple meals, keeping mom content with her for company. I hesitate saying I ever took care of mom for she was very independent !
She even mowed her own lawn with the riding lawn mower until she was about 96. She wasn’t ready to quit then but the mower deck had some big holes in it so Bill took it home to fix and just never brought it back.
Memories of Jessica trigger so many other memories that this blog could expand into at least one book but my writing time for now is over.
What special memories does the month dedicated to love bring to the forefront of your mind?
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