Phyllis, the Nutty Bar & garments Granny

Sean's grandma passed away a couple weeks ago and I have really wanted to blog about it, but when I was in the right mood to write about her. Oh, how I loved Grandma Lingwall! I didn't think I would still get choked up just typing about her, but I am. She felt like my own flesh and blood Grandma from the very start. I think my love for her came first from seeing how much Sean loved her. She and his Grandpa Edward , really his name was Karl, but all I ever heard Grandma call him was Eddie or Edward.(where Sean gets his middle name... oh and there's also that sexy vampire). They both meant the world to Sean. When Sean moved here from Georgia, which also turned into when we started dating, he lived with them until we got married.

I still remember the first time I came to Sunday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Lingwalls; Grandpa was ecstatic that I was a redhead and broke out the polaroid. (hey I wonder where that picture is? I would like it) Grandma acted like I was already one of the family and I had never felt so welcomed and accepted in my life. (keep in mind Sean and I had only been dating maybe a month)

Grandma was so thoughtful and good at remembering every single person in the family's birthday. She always got me garments (well, she got us all garments). What an awesome present though. It's one of those things I always need, but never make a trip to go get them. I'm lazy and wait until mine are almost see-thru... mormon lingerie, i call them. She even got me the right size too. She also remembered how I said I loved Grasshopper cookies one time, long ago, and sure enough I got a package of them along with my garments and 10 bucks every year! She was no cheap Granny.

She was also known as the Nutty Bar Grandma at our house and kept our pantry stocked. Sean ate lunch and visited her 2-3 times a week and she was always sending him home with goodie bags for the girls... and some for me too. (he has missed her incredibly... she fed her "boy" well). When we told Faye she had died, first she bawled, which made me and Sean cry even more... but then she said "Now we'll never get Nutty Bars again"... the things kids think of, but it made us laugh through our tears.

You may say i'm morbid, but I love funerals. I really do. You get to learn things about a person you never knew. Amazing things, funny things, and just regular things. I had no idea Grandma played the piano. I had no idea if it weren't for her, her children wouldn't have ended up such wonderful singers. (Sean's family has some really, really amazing singers). She hated her picute taken and usually always had a scoul on her face in them. I also found out a couple of years ago that she hated her name. One of Seans cousins gave their little girl Phyllis as a middle name and grandma said "Why would anyone want to use that as a name?" She was also funny, but most of all, she was a really good person. What a thing to live up to.

I'm so happy I got to know her and call her Grandma.

Phyll in her prime: it looks like she didn't like to smile for the camera back then either. I think she's beatiful old or young.