Life is all about the ups and downs...

I guess as you get older, it happens more often, or maybe you just become more aware of it.
In recent weeks and months, I've had lots of friends and relatives experiencing the ups and downs that make up life,the things that make us who we are and teach us what is most important in life. I've had several friends and family lose beloved pets, lots of people (mainly co-workers both past and present) give birth to beautiful baby girls, and our family has celebrated lots of milestone birthdays, anniversaries and high school graduations, but this week, we experienced one of the lows.  My grandmother passed away around 1am Wednesday morning, July 2.    It was not an unexpected thing.  She was in failing health for sometime now, she was, after all 97 years old.  The last time I saw her, she was in some pain, but still had her thoughts together.  I sat and held her hand and she asked about work and where I was living, about the weather and then maybe about work again and whether I liked it or not.  I told her about Duff.  She nodded off a few times (not a bit out of the ordinary for an Utsinger, and a trait that seems to have been passed to further generations....).  I told her I loved her, gave her a kiss and left, knowing that it would probably be one of the last times I would see her.   She is in a much better place now.   I was so lucky to have her for 45 years and I will miss her.
But, I have loads and loads of memories.
  
My grandma and grandpa lived in a pink house. You might not find that unusual.  I always did, because I have never known anyone else in my whole life who lived in a pink house.  So to me, it was unique....it said something about her style. She was also a seamstress, often making or embelishing her own clothes.   I guess you could say she had a flair, she loved flashy .  Thinking about that this week made me realize  that maybe just a little bit of that "uniqueness" wore off on me.  I'm the first to admit that normal, everyday doesn't work for me.....I am not a taupe kind of guy ...standing out in a crowd has never bothered me and fitting in just for the sake of fitting in doesn't hold much appeal.... I guess I have her to thank for some of that...
 
I have a specific memory of being a kid and staying with my grandma and grandpa while my mom and dad went bowling.  It was a Sunday night, we ate Miniature Reese's Peanut Butter cups that were kept in a white box in the freezer, Grandma taught me to play Parchessi (maybe not how to spell it, but how to play it) and it was the first time I remember watching "The Sound of Music". 

I will miss the way she would laugh so much when she was re-telling a story that you could barely understand what she was saying.

The day after I graduated from high school, I, grandma, my cousin Larry, Aunt Carol and my Great Aunt Ruby went to visit relatives in Manhattan Beach, California.  We did all the touristy things, but one of the things I remember most was my grandma driving us all on the freeway.  She had come to the ramp to merge onto the freeway and there was a stop light with a sign that clearly read "Only One Car per Green".  She was stopped at the light when it was red and as it turned green she started driving to merge onto the freeway.....a car comes zooming past and around her and speeds off down the freeway.  My 70 year old grandmother's response....."It said One Car per Green, you crazy bastard!!!":)

As with everything, so many memories revolve around food.  Besides the frozen peanut butter cups that were a staple in the freezer, some of my favorites.....
Angel Food Cake with pink frosting and silver bb's.....I know now they are called dragees, but when I was a kid, they were bb's.  Pick them off the cake, load them in your Red Rider and look out Black Bart.
Every New Year's Day, she would make ribs, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and this warm date,nut pudding.  It was the first time I realized I actually like sauerkraut.
Potato Doughnuts....do I need to say anymore?

Every winter grandma and grandpa would winter in Texas.  Long before email, we would write letters (actual handwritten letters in envelopes with stamps and everything) back and forth to each other.

She had a CB radio and her handle was "Ginger".   Mine was "Weak Muscle".  (Stop. Laughing. Right. Now).  Sometimes I would see her driving that brown El Camino and give her a shout out, for no other reason than to say I saw her car at the post office earlier.

When I was little I had a Tonka Winnebago.  I asked her to make the plastic couple that lived in the  winnebago some new clothes.....she made the man a pink  polyester leisure suit and his wife a matching sundress.  I still have them in my mom and dad's basement....living in the winnebago in their pink ensembles.....without their plastic dog....I never did know where he disappeared to....

Life happens everyday.  In the lows, we all have memories to recall that remind us what it's all about.  People may pass and we might feel sad, but they are always with us, part of who we are and who we become.  In the highs, we have to take the time to look around and enjoy the moments because they will pass so quickly.   At the end of the day, it's important to embrace it all, the ups, the downs, the family, the friends, the circumstance you are in,to just embrace life.

Over and out Ginger, give Clint a hug for us....we'll all see you again.
xo
Weak Muscle
.......no really, stop laughing, it's not funny.........stop
you guys, I mean it....stop laughing