In Memory.

Last month while hanging out with a good friend, she asked me if I had seen the Detroit Tiger crochet hats floating around online. I made a mental note to look them up. By now you all know where my mental notes go…

Last week another friend asked me if I could make each of her kids “one of those Detroit Tigers hats she had seen online.” This time I asked for a picture (because we knew where that last mental note went…)

I found a pattern on etsy and got hooking. *This is the inspiration hat on etsy.

While crocheting these hats I kept thinking of my 94 year old Great Grandmother. She is a huge Tigers fan. We used to sit on her back porch in the green wicker rockers playing cards and listening to the Tigers game.

Shortly after finishing the first hat, I received a phone call. “Grandma is in the hospital. Doesn’t look good.”

The next day (Wednesday) my mom, brother, and I drove two hours to the hospital and sat next to her hospital bed.

She passed away yesterday.

She was my last living grandparent, and a very influential part of my life. This death is a hard one, not because she didn’t live a wonderfully long life (ninety-four!). Because I wasn’t deliberate about making time these past few years. I had so much I wanted to learn from her, questions I wanted to ask.

*Fun Fact: While at the hospital I asked my Great Aunt and Uncle why Grandma listened to the Tigers instead of watching them on the television. “As a girl she used to listen to them in the hammock with her father. She had tried to watch them on t.v. but she couldn’t stand seeing them spit and scratch themselves.” That’s my Grandma.

I go through periods of  vacancy and numbness for a bit, but I’m okay. I know I am lucky to have had a relationship with my Great Grandmother.

Thankfully I have four more Tiger hats to crochet. This means time to deliberately reflect on memories of Great Grandma.

Are you lucky to have had a relationship with your grandparents? If so, what is your favorite memory?

Earlier in the year I had started a little series Lessons from Great Grandma’s Kitchen. My goal is to pick up where I left off and document the lessons this wonderful woman taught me.