I have another amazing grandma, too! Grandma Arnold

So, I went on and on about my Grandma Horn yesterday.  Can you imagine that I was fortunate enough to have TWO amazing grandmas??  My Grandma Arnold was also a woman molded in the image of Proverbs 31.  Oma Vacie Daily Arnold.  A funny name for a spunky, fun-loving lady.

Grandma's surprise 80th birthday at Mary's house.

Both of my grandmas lost their husbands in their early 60s, while they still had many years of life left to live as widows.  Sadly, I never got to know either of my grandfathers, but the love of my grandmas made up for it.  

When I was little, Grandma Arnold lived in Thayer with her sister, Sylvie.  They shared a small trailer house next to Sylvie's daughter, Burrelene, and her husband, Lewis.  I remember that trailer so vividly.  It had a smell that I just can't even put into words.  It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad.  It's a smell that I associate with propane and old people, probably on account of it reminding me of those two ladies.  It was very dark in their trailer.  

My great-grandma Daily, my dad, and me in Grandma Arnold's trailer house.  1975

Grandma had the little room (she wouldn't have had it any other way.)  I remember a curtain of hanging plastic pink and orange beads that rattled when you walked through them.  My first stop in the house was always at Grandma's jewelry box.  My Grandma Arnold loved her jewelry.  It wasn't fancy, either.  We're talking plastic, gaudy, costume jewelry.  Oh, how I loved it all!  I inherited most of those "valuables" when she passed away, and I still get them out and sniff of the boxes for a quick trip down memory lane.

Aunt Sylvie (seated)
Aunt Rosemary, Uncle Bob, Grandma, and Uncle Burl
(Many years after that little old trailer house)

In the living room, Aunt Sylvie had her recliner.  She was always sitting in that chair sewing or knitting something.  I can remember sitting down in that chair, on one of the rare occasions when she wasn't in it, and feeling the pokes of what seemed like dozens of needles on my arms.  Aunt Sylvie liked to use the arm of her chair as a pin cushion!  

The kitchen was small and dark.  I can remember these cups that Grandma had.  They were brightly colored aluminum and made a lot of noise with ice in them.  They kept your drink really cold, but the feeling of my teeth hitting that metal always sent a kind of shiver down my spine.  

^^THESE!^^

We didn't usually spend much time inside the trailer.  Everyone would congregate on the concrete porch out front.  They had this old metal glider that was covered with a cushion.  It squeaked something terrible, but I loved sitting in it.  I have looked and looked for one like it for myself, but those things are costly today!  I want an old, rusty one, too.  Grandma's was black and white and faced out toward the front yard and highway.  

There were Martin houses in the front yard.  I can remember Grandma talking about the Martins.  She would say, "the Martins are back for the summer," and I honestly thought she was talking about some friends of hers.  It was many years later that I realized the Martins were birds and not her friends or one of the families she cleaned for.

Dad pulling us kids in a wagon in Grandma's front yard.

Another great thing about visiting Grandma Arnold was getting to go to Burrelene and Lewis's house.  They had what I thought was the most amazing house in the world!  Their kitchen was ROUND!  Yes.  A circle.  The back half of the circle was a wall that housed the appliances and cabinetry.  The front half of the circle was the biggest bar you can imagine in a home.  From the kitchen side of the bar, there was a countertop and work space.  From the living room side of the bar, was a line of bar stools that went on and on and on.  The whole thing was open to a huge living/family/dining room.  The front of this massive room came to a point, like the bow of a ship, and it was floor to ceiling glass doors and windows, with a balcony.  Over in the dining area of the room was a huge grandfather clock.  I attribute my love of chiming clocks to that old grandfather clock of theirs.  

Grandma sitting in one of the bar stools at Burrelene's house
and waiting her turn to play cards.

I've wandered a bit from the subject of my grandma.  Forgive me.  Back to Grandma... We really didn't go and visit at her home much.  My dad would go and pick my grandma up and bring her to stay at our home for a week or so at a time.  She couldn't drive, so wherever she went was where she stayed, until she had someone to drive her somewhere else.  Us kids LOVED Grandma's visits.  Unlike my Grandma Horn, Grandma Arnold didn't sew.  She had a lot of eye troubles, so she didn't sit and read much, either (though she read from her Bible faithfully.)  Grandma Arnold was a gamer.  She played games.  She taught every one of us kids how to play Canasta at an early age.  We'd take turns playing cards with Grandma when she was staying with us.  We had an old brown plastic card tray that swiveled and slick, plastic playing cards that were aqua and magenta colored.  You had to use both decks for Canasta.  I'm sure Grandma took it easy on us a lot of the time, but I can remember her holding a hand of cards that was so full she could barely contain it with both hands.  You see, in Canasta, you can choose to hold your cards in hopes of laying them all down at once and "going out" on your opponent.  Grandma liked to do that.  So, if her hand was getting big and out of control, you had better be laying down whatever cards you had pretty quick!  Before I was old enough to learn Canasta, Grandma taught me Crazy 8s and Books.  She would always find a way to include me in the fun with her.  

Me and Grandma

Back at home, she and Aunt Sylvie stayed pretty active.  They frequented their Senior Center, Fun & Friends, and participated in most of their activities.  Aunt Sylvie was able to drive and took them to these outings.  Grandma was always playing cards with friends and family, wherever she went.

More than anyone I've ever met, my grandma had a mind sharper than a tack!  She never forgot a name.  She never forgot a story.  I sure wish now that I had picked her brain for more family stories back then.  Her paternal grandfather's branch of my family tree is barren, and there's no one left to ask about filling in the blanks.

Grandma and her kids, Glen, Mary, and Bob
outside of Burrelene's home.

Everyone that called our house knew when Grandma was visiting.  Of course, we only had the old rotary phones back then.  In the kitchen, it was yellow and hung on the wall near the windows.  For some reason, Grandma would hold the part you speak into upward, pointing to the ceiling almost.  And she was LOUD.  She'd answer with "Yellloo!"  Yep.  Yello, with a "Y."  

As I said, Grandma couldn't see well enough to do a lot of reading or crafting with her hands.  She spent her afternoons "resting her eyes" or "catnapping."  She could doze off just about anywhere.  She deserved the rest, though.  She worked hard much of her life.

Brian, Shelley, Grandma, Mom, & Me

My grandpa had polio as a child and was crippled for life.  He also suffered horribly with psoriasis.  All of the stories I've heard tell of how Grandma cared for him.  She graduated high school as class valedictorian years after marrying and having children.  She took in people's laundry.  She worked as a waitress and dishwasher.  She was a housekeeper for many families over the years.  She wasn't much for cooking.  Aunt Sylvie was a wonderful cook.  Sylvie cooked.  Grandma cleaned.  They were a perfect pair.  She didn't mind washing up dishes.  

Dad tells how, when he was a kid, they'd have chicken.  Grandma would always eat the neck.  As a kid, he assumed she just liked the neck.  Later in life, he realized that Grandma was being generous and letting her family have the choice pieces of the chicken.  That's just how Grandma was.  There wasn't a selfish bone in her body.  She found great delight in being helpful to others, especially her family.  

I could really go on and on about how much I loved my Grandma and why.  She had the sweetest little laugh and smile that made her eyes wrinkle around the edges.  She was never without a Kleenex tucked into some part of her clothing or her watch band.  She would put her hand to her forehead when she was trying to think of something, as if it might help to pull the information out.  She enjoyed life and didn't mind traveling to visit with loved ones.  She would spend most of the summer with my Uncle Glen and his family in Texas.  She even visited them when he was stationed in Germany.  She would go and stay with my Aunt Mary and her family for weeks at a time on their dairy farm in Nixa.  No matter the length of her stay, it was never long enough, and she never wore out her welcome.  Grandma brought light and laughter wherever she went.

Yes.  I had two vastly different ladies as grandmas, one quiet and one not-so-quiet.  Each was a treasure, so different but so much the same, too.  Both were Godly women who put the Lord first in their lives and family a very close second.  I am so thankful that my parents loved their mothers so dearly and moved them both into a trailer on their property when they needed a place to go.  Grandma Horn couldn't hear well, but she could see.  Grandma Arnold couldn't see well, but she could hear.  In their own way, they were a perfect pair, and I miss them both every day. 

Grandma Horn and Grandma Arnold
at my wedding in 1994.