Family Friday's...

Happy Birthday Granny!

Today would have been Granny's 89th birthday. Peter's mum worked all his growing up years and he was looked after by his Nan.  Granny was a very kind and generous mother-in-law and I considered her my "mum".  She was always willing to babysit and now that I am a Nana I appreciate her willingness even more.

Her name was Violet Eliza Cheeseman Unwin.  She always thought her middle name was Elizabeth because that was what her parents had told her.  Imagine her surprise when she went to work for British Telecom at an early age and had to get a copy of her birth certificate for work.  Her mum thought the Eliza on her birth certificate was short for Elizabeth.

Favorite Memories of Granny...

When being the narrator at the 1988 family Christmas party's Nativity play she said "The wise men brought the baby Jesus, Gold, "Frankinstein"and Myrrh. The play dissolved into hysterics!

Once when visiting my Grandfather Follett she expressed her delight at the large "condom" he was living in. Those of us visiting with her busted a quiet gasket!!!

She came over to visit us about every 6 months those first few years we were here. During one of those  November/December holidays, Tiffany volunteered to go to the store for me.  Just a quick trip.  Tiffany came up to me while I was standing at the kitchen sink and said "Please don't tell Granny. I just want to be quick."  As Tiffany walked to get her coat on in the other room I turned to Granny and said "Granny, Tiffany's going to the store.  Would you like to go?" I think she was ready and standing at the door before Tiffany could blink her eyes  (Tiffany really didn't mind)

The Sunday she walked into the chapel at Epsom with the missionaries.  Tiffany was aware she was having her umpteenth set of lessons and was going to be baptized, but they had kept it a secret from the rest of us! Peter even said "Mum, what are you doing here?"

When she got married it was during WWII.  Because of rationing she had no wedding cake with the exception of a cardboard cake iced with a little frosting.  So when she was here one Christmas, summer (Thanks Tiffany) she took the opportunity to go to the temple for the first time and was sealed to Ken for eternity with Peter being sealed to them.  When we came home that night we had bought a small "wedding style" cake to celebrate.  She was touched and I think very pleased.

Granny and Matt going shopping for a new headlight or taillight for our van because of an unfortunate parking episode.

Granny standing at her glass enclosed front porch holding Casey, waiting for us to arrive to get him. (I vowed then and there I would not do this with my grandchildren cause I felt so badly that he had obviously been a little stinker)

Tracking Granny down at her friend's house at 6 a.m. one morning to come babysit so I could go to the hospital and James could join our family.

Granny Loved....


Playing games, especially Scrabble.
She loved to travel.
She loved to go shopping if you were going, she wanted to come too. (see above)
She loved her grandchildren and was always knitting sweaters for them as they were growing up.

Her final months...

Peter and I had the opportunity to go over to England in June 2002.  Unfortunately she wasn't doing well health wise and we went with the sad task of finding a nursing care facility for her.  By the time we got to England she was in hospital and stayed there for about 12 weeks.  There was a lot of legal things we had to do to get her in a position to enter a care facility.  We found a nice one in a very posh area of Cheam, Surrey, England.  We were happy with it and knew they would take good care of her.  They were even willing to try and get her sprung from the hospital and into their homely atmosphere. It was hard to leave her and yet she wasn't as coherent as she had once been. We knew as we left that we were saying goodbye to her for this life.

August of that same year found all of us, Matt and his family, Tiffany and her family, (Casey was on his mission so he missed it) James, Peter and I going to Lagoon to spend a fun day together.  Granny had send money at Christmas for gifts and I had hung on to it thinking it would be great to save it for something special.  We used the money that day to go and play as a family.  The entire day and right up to Lagoon closing it's gates was spent with us saying "Oh wouldn't Granny enjoy seeing this?" "She would love to be here!" The day is one of the best family days we have ever shared!

That night as we were going to bed, (Tiffany and her family were spending the night), we continued to laugh and go over the events of the day.  We continued to talk about Granny and the fun memories we had of her. The phone rang.  It was Peter's cousin David, in England, to say that Granny had slipped peacefully away earlier in the evening.  I still remember Tiffany sitting on our bedroom floor and Peter and I sitting in bed as we received that call.  Yes, we cried. Tears flowed at a rapid rate on us all.

We were so grateful for that day!  We had spent a day being grateful for her and so it was only appropriate that we ended the day kneeling in prayer expressing our thankfulness for her in our life.

Happy Birthday Granny! We love and miss you!