Lots happening...

Lots happening + travel = delinquent blog postings.

The past few weeks have been extremely busy for us, and on the 28th, my grandma Hodkinson passed away. So the for the past two weekends we have been in BF. My grandma had a long, great life, and I'm so glad we got to spend time with her before she passed away. Below is what I wrote for her funeral, which was this past weekend:

On Saturday we lost one of the original “Pioneer Women.” I say Pioneer not because she grew up on the range, even though she did grow up in Belfort ­ but because in many ways Grandma was ahead of her time.

Before it became cool to recycle and care about the Earth, Grandma was known for reusing any and everything. If you were to look in her cupboards right now, you’d probably find more than 5 Cool Whip containers being put to good use. She was even known to wash out the plastic bag from a loaf of bread, reusing it multiple times. She never wasted anything, and leftover food was collected and composted in her garden.

Before it became cool to seek out alternative and homeopathic remedies, Grandma was eating garlic cloves and prescribing vinegar or cod liver oil to fix your ailment. I’ll never forget the time we were talking, and she casually said, “You know Justin, if you put a little urine on your face that acne will clear right up.” She had a natural remedy for everything and was always giving advice.

Before everyone had cell phones, if you ever called Grandma looking for your mom or dad, and they weren’t there… She would immediately get in the car and drive around until she found them and gave them your message.

Before people worked out in gyms, she knew the importance of exercise. For cardio she could always be seen walking the sidewalks of Croghan, and in the winter wearing a full-on snowsuit. For strength training she would move around her living room furniture for family gatherings without anyone’s help. One minute there was a chair behind you, and the next minute it was gone. She had the strength of 10 people.

Before Martha Stewart published her baking cook books, Grandma had perfected her pie crust recipe and could churn out pies and cookies faster than you could eat them. I mentioned how she never wasted anything, well if you wasted your pie crust ­ watch out. It was hard to make Grandma mad, but not eating your pie crust was sure to get you in trouble.

Before we stayed in touch by email, she would communicate in person. Growing up, if you hadn’t seen her for a while Grandpa and Grandma would stop by. They never let much time pass before stopping in to see how you were doing and find out what was going on.

And before you could say I love you, she showed you. Grandma loved each of us, and was never too tired to show any of us. Grandma was the first to find out if something was wrong, and she was the first to tell our parents to lighten up on us. Grandma always knew what kind of pie you wanted for your birthday, and her face always lit up when you walked into a room. You could never make her disappointed and she only wanted one thing. She wanted each of us to be happy and she wanted to know what each of us was doing.

Today we say good bye to Mary Hodkinson. She was a wife, mother, grandmother, and friend to many. At times like this we may all be feeling some thing different, and I think that’s ok. It’s ok to feel sad because we’ll miss her. It’s ok to feel joyful because she’s in Heaven and her pain and suffering have ended. And it’s ok to not know how to feel. What’s important is that she knew we loved her, and she knew we knew she loved us.

I am thankful for the time we had with her. I am thankful for all the times she said something crazy to me, or told me to put urine on my face. I am thankful for all the birthday parties and holiday gatherings she always had.

I will miss her dearly, but I can’t mourn her loss, because she wouldn’t have it.

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I'll be getting back to regular blogging soon... But we're also gone this weekend, so no promises!