How I Miss Her

Jylene Josephson

This is how I remember her the most. Absolutely thrilled that she has a new
riding lawn mower.

This isn't meant to be a depressing post. However, I can't help it if I am not totally excited about the actual date even though it comes every year regardless. Twelve years ago today my Grandma passed away. I have been thinking about her every day for two weeks. I have always felt a connection with her even after her death. A few Sundays ago, I was hungry, as pregnant women usually are and decided that I would make a down home cooked meal. Something that my Grandma would totally have made. I made Cream of Potato soup, homemade rolls and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I was seriously on my feet cooking and cleaning up for like 6 hours! All through the process I kept thinking that this really is alot of work and there is no way that I could do this everyday. I'd be exhausted! That led me to thoughts of an amazing woman: My Grandma. She DID do this everyday. And not only did she have her kids that still lived at home to feed she also had 11 (yes, 11) grandkids who lived next door who always were hungry that she fed without one single complaint. I was one of those grandkids and I LOVED eating at her house because you knew it was homemade and delicious. This was something that I totally took for granted and I don't know if I ever said thank-you for all she did. Knowing me I'm sure I didn't. In my kitchen that Sunday as I was pondering all of this, I really got to thinking about all that she did and had to do to keep things running smoothly. I stood there and told Tyler all of them and thought to myself what a big fat whiner I am!
This is the woman who made the most delicious homemade bread. Every week she would make loaves upon loaves of homemade bread. Before she could start the bread she had to grind the wheat to get the flour first! Seriously! I am not talking about a breadmaking machine here-she was the breadmaker. The mixing, kneading, rising and baking was all her. And she did it every week! That just blows my mind! She was a master in the kitchen if I ever knew one. She canned everything under the sun. Among the many things she canned that I loved were her dill pickles,
pickled beets (our family loved vinegar), peaches, chokecherry jelly, green beans, strawberry jam and many more. She had a HUGE garden that she took care of mostly on her own so she could grow all of these things to either freeze or can later. Most everything she made was from scratch. She taught me how to make buttermilk with vinegar and regular milk if you didn't have any buttermilk on hand. How to make butter from milk (whole milk works best if you really want to know). I also learned how to make my own noodles and corn tortillas. She also had a love of chocolate that I will not soon forget. She also made the most amazing cinnamon rolls I have ever had to this day. The frosting she put on the cinnamon rolls was called White Mountain Frosting. And was it ever delicious. I love frosting. I miss her terribly. How awesome it would be to take my kids up to Rexburg for the weekend and let them play and roam on the farm, have tractor rides with my Grandpa and have some kitchen/garden time with my Grandma. Those were my favorite things when I was a kid. How could they not? She was an amazing woman and I can't wait to see her again. Her being taken from us when she was only 61 years old was a slap in the face that I will never forget. So now I make sure my kids know how cool and talented she really was. I like to tell them stories occasionally about all the time me and my cousins spent at my Grandparents house and the trouble we would get into. What fun days they were.
A few little facts about Grandma:
-She was very musically talented. She sang in a womens group for a long time. She could play the piano AND organ beautifully. One of my favorite songs she played on her organ was Puff the Magic Dragon. She was able to play so well and only had nine fingers to do it with. When she was a child, one of her fingers became infected and so they had to remove it from the knuckle. Us kids always thought it was so cool that she only had nine fingers.
-She kept a journal her entire life. Everyday since she learned to write, she would write in her journal. She did this up until her sudden passing. How I treasure them know.
-She was always in tune with the Spirit. She knew when someone was pregnant before they had even told her she was pregnant. She knew the evening that her Grandmother had died even before she got the call. She just knew things. A few days before she died, I was sitting with her at LDS hospital while she was getting a dose of Chemotherapy. It was just her and me all alone. She looked at me and told me that she knew before I was born that I was a girl (I was her first Granddaughter born). She told me how convinced my Mom was that it was a boy and my Mom kept saying how she needs help coming up with some boy names. My Grandma said she told my Mom, it's not going to be a boy, it's going to be a girl so think of girl names. I never knew that story until that moment and I will never forget it.
She was one of the most humble people that I have ever known in my entire life. I cannot wait till the day when I am able to see her again. Until then I have loads of memories and pictures to keep me company until we meet again. Also lots of advice. Don't forget about the advice.
I know that she is free from all her cares, worries and sorrow where she is now and that brings me great comfort.

My Grandma the Bride and Grandpa the Groom