Keert and Grandma Hale putting a puzzle together
Growing up in a rural community near a small ranching and farming town, I would know all of my grandparents and they would be an extension of my parents. During busy high school sport seasons, I would live during the week with Dad’s parents.
Too many birthday’s to count would be spent at Mom’s Moms house. All the cousins would gather when they came from out of town for a visit. We would have huge dinners, celebrations of Christmas and whenever my parents had an evening event, we would stay with Grandma Hale (or at her house when we were mostly old enough.)
She would accompany me to Little Britches rodeos with our big camper and trailer. She would cheer me on while completing a crossword. We lived on her ranch, that of her Mothers. She would help with branding dinners, chicken plucking, gardening and canning.
She was cool, practical, wise, funny. I respected her. I trusted her. I loved her very much.
This evening Grandma Hale left us on this Earth. Her two daughters, a son-in-law, a grandson, and a great granddaughter would be beside her as they said goodbye.
Selfishly we are so grateful to have seen her just two weeks prior. To have shared in stories about the past, issues of the day over steak and fajita dinners. To engage in learning about the new Kindle Fire and debates about whether anyone in the family had been cremated, not knowing the decision would be faced so soon. To have laughed together one last time.
I realize now how truly wonderful it is to have had such an example from my Grandma. That at 96 she would outlive my Mother and would contribute to the better part of my life.
Her obituary is here.
My Mom’s Mom, Wilma Lorraine Gwendolyn Waddill Hale is dying. She has decided everything in her life, except the many losses. She would become a widow in her 20’s with three young girls to raise on her Mom’s ranch. Not her decision to leave business school with her new husband that the ranch would take from her so soon. She would lose her Mom and her daughter, my Mom, both to surgical complication. She would not remarry. She would take a business job in town, raise her girls well and become a fixture in her community that included bridge club, Eastern Star and Legion Club dances. She might be sad, but never bitter. She would empower, encourage and challenge all of her grandchildren.
Even before the garage sale opened last weekend, Joe emailed me about the Minn Kota trolling motor. His mother lives in a nearby Seattle suburb and could pay for and pick it up. Contingent upon promise to refund, receipt of sale and horsepower. From the picture he knew he was getting a great 
What a dumbbell or barbell is. Weight that you lift. Weight that causes your muscles to work. To counter the depreciating effects of many of our sedentary lifestyles in front of a computer, at a desk or even traveling with plane time, heavy meals, alcoholic beverages and all of that whittling away any time to ‘exercise’.
Peace is yours Michelle. The sadness is over.
maximizealot 