Grama Bertha

    I grew up with all 4 grandparents in close proximity. I saw all of them weekly and spent the night at their homes quite a lot. This is more than I can say for my 2 kiddos who have never lived less than 100 miles from their grandparents. So I was a lucky kid, right? I gotta say though, I had a favorite. My mom's mom - Bertha Camilla VanWatermeulen DeCoster Cummins. (She named her kids Mary, Sue and Jeff!) Of course Grama Bertha, as we called her, was the first to pass away.
    I was 13. It was spring and a couple months from my confirmation. I am soooo not a cryer, but thinking about her gets the waterworks goin'. I remember as a 13 year old being so sad for my mom. Grama died in a matter of minutes. She had gone shopping with her 2 daughters, a weekly ritual,  and was in the driveway to her house when she had a massive stroke/heart attack in the back seat.
    Maybe this is why I cry when I think of her. The other grandparents died after long illnesses. My last grampa died just this month. Maybe it's because I was an adult with the others. I remember being a kid and going to Petersen's at the mall with Grama Bertha. People would say hi to her and when I asked who it was, she would say they were a customer. She was a cashier at Eagle's grocery store for 29 years. I don't know my cashiers at Wal-mart, do you?
    There must have been something special about her that was not exclusive to her grandkids. Everyone saw it. She was kind, that's it. She was nice to be around. She kept chocolate licorice in the kitchen drawer for us. She gave us silly chores that we thought were really helpful, like filling a brown grocery bag full of pinecones. She tucked us in and gave us a kiss goodnight and said, Goodnight - God bless ya - I love ya.
    I had been thinking about her lately and didn't consiously know why. Maybe it was the funeral of my last grandparent, I dunno. Twenty-eight years ago she died, and I remember taking out her curlers like it was yesterday. I only just rememebered that she had died in March, then I did the math. Wow, 28 years, no kidding? Huh. I'm 40. I miss her. I loved all of my grandparents of course, but she was my favorite.