Show & Tell: Happy Birthday Grandma!

Welcome to my contribution to Mel's Show and Tell. If you have no idea what this is, please check it out here. You might want to take a peek at what the rest of the class is doing, or even better you could JOIN class!

Today, Easter Sunday, Grandma would have been 96. In honor of her birthday I'd like to dedicate this Show and Tell to my grandmother.

Grandma had a fond appreciation of Show & Tell. She was an elementary school teacher for years. She was a wonderful teacher. She loved to travel, and many of her own Show & Tells involved photos and items purchased from far away places. This habit didn't stop when she retired from teaching. Nope. She was always the perfect show-er and tell-er. She was very good to keep things together in a theme. Take this for example,

A jewelry box, a pin and necklace on top of a typical textile which were purchases from a trip to Guatemala. This is her photograph from 1974. Guess how I found it? As a 35mm slide mount in a collection of perfectly sorted and labeled slides to coincide with a series of photos to be shared via projector and screen. See what I mean? She was a Show & Tell natural.

If only I could have inherited some of my grandmother's other wonderful talents besides story telling. Back in her day they would have simply have referred to her as a "home-maker". Of course she was much more than that, but oh, what a home she would make! She gardened, canned, jellied, kept up with recipies, wrote letters often, baked, embroidered, acted as a scout troop leader, made every dollar strech, sewed, scrapbooked, and crafted. She even had the ability to make camping homey. Well, here take a look for yourself... (Photos from 1956)

If a magazine existed called, "Better Camp Homes, and Picnics" don't you think this top photo could be a cover shot?

Visiting Grandma's house a child was always a highlight. We were greeted with delicious home made cookies and a house filled with treasures. She had many games, puzzles and craft projects. There was enough to keep us kids occupied and never seen for hours.

Knowing this...I have a theory on why we haven't seen a BFP yet. My future children are at grandmother's house. In heaven, Grandma probably has a perfect house (with a basement of course!) and she is teaching our children all sorts of wonderful things. She has probably read to them countless books to give them the same love of reading she shared with me. By the time I was old enough to visit Grandma's house her artritis kept her from doing some of the things that she loved so much like gardening. Now that artritis no longer hold her back, I'm sure that our children are growing the biggest tomatoes, the tastiest peaches, and perhaps some amazing things that I won't see until I get to visit Grandma again. Just like my brother and I who would enjoy spending time with her and never want to leave...perhaps our children are just having so much fun they don't want to leave.

So, with that consideration I'd like to send my grandmother the following message:

Dear Grandma,

Happy Birthday! I've missed you, but I'm happy to know that you are in a place where you are free to do all of the things that you were unable to do here for so long. Although you are not going to be here when we have kids, I'm delighted to know that you have probably already met them. Thank you for taking such great care of them and teaching them things that they could never learn from me. But you should know, I absolutely can't wait to meet them Grandma! Please send one of them along to be with us soon. I could never be as good as a home-maker as you, but I think I've learned enough to be as good as a mother as you. At least I had very good inspiration!

I love you Grandma!
Your namesake,
Liv