"If tears could build a stairway..And memories a lane...I'd walk right up to Heaven and bring you home again..."

I ran across this quote a couple weeks ago while just doing a general search on the internet and it has stuck with me...A couple weeks ago was the 1 year anniversary of my grandmother's death...and it seems that every turn I make since seeing this quote I see..smell..or hear something that reminds me of her...

Some of my favorite memories that I often think of is whenever my brother, sister, and I would go to visit her in Birmingham she would always..and I do mean always...have a huge pot of Chicken and Dumplings on the stove..now, I am talking about out of a can chicken and dumplings..no...she would sit in that kitchen for hours cooking enough for a army...the dumplings were homemade and I promise you...those dumplings were the best thing you ever put in your mouth...What I wouldnt give just to have one more pot of that...or just to walk in and see her standing at the kitchen counter pulling the chicken apart and rolling out the dough...or to stand beside her on a chair and help...

Well after you got your belly full of her famous dumplings you could always go to her deep freeze on the back porch and open up the lid...and what was inside....a huge box of chocolate popcycles...and when you decieded you wanted a snack later...there was a huge jar of pickles in the refrigerator...I guess you could say for my grandmother that cooking was love...In the mornings we would wake up to the smell of homemade biscuits and gravy, bacon, eggs and anything else she thought you could fit on your plate...Oh how I smile at thinking of these things...

When I was a little girl I always loved going to her house...you see in her bathroom behing the mirror was any color of nail polish you could possibly want...I would spend hours painting my nails and toenails..and she even let me paint hers every now and then..even though my nail painting skills was quite a bit more sloppy than hers...oh and the jewelry...She would walk into the room and just dissolve into a fit of giggles at the site of me...There I was maybe 50 pounds soak and wet...loaded down with as many necklaces, bracelets and rings as I could get on...along with my bright red finger and toenails...I assure you, I was a sight to see...She would laugh and come give me the biggest kiss on my cheek...Her smile could brighten up any dreary day...I have a huge love of old records...and I have her to thank for this...I would sit in front of her old record player on the living room floor for hours just playing one record after another...I would have them spread out all over the floor...Before I knew it hours had passed...I would get lost in the rythms..the sounds...the words..I guess you could say this is where my love of music first started...right there on that living room floor...

Every year for Christmas she would buy me a porcelian doll...not a cheap one either...but one of quality and let me tell you...she would be the most gorgeous doll...she would hand pick it out..and thats what made it even more special...She would start in July finding just the right present for you..and it couldnt be just any ole present...it had to be the perfect one...Birthdays....we always knew that we were going to get a card in the mail...I dont know about my brother and sister...but I for one looked forward to it every year...She always had a way of making you feel special...she would address the card to "Master Jessica Andrews" or "Princess Jessica Andrews"....and on the inside was a crisp $20.00 bill...as my birthday approaches next week...I know that I wont be getting a card in the mail but I do know that she is smiling down on me in Heaven..probably cooking enough for Gods Army...
I know most of you have seen the necklace I wear a good bit..it is a silver box on a silver chain...It is called a prayer box..she gave me and my sister one a couple years before she got alzeihmers...She knew how much I loved silver...There is not a single time that I put this necklace on and I dont think of her...I have a piece of paper on the inside of the prayer box...and it simply says "Keep my family and friends safe"...and I know that she is up in heaven right now helping God do just that...

The quote at the beginning of this blog says that I'd walk up to heaven and bring you home again...I dont agree with that statement....She is home...The world that she left is not the world that she would be coming back to...the only thing I regret is that Khristian will not be able to know how wonderful of a women she was...I can only keep her alive through these memories..and I intend to do just that...

I love you Nanny...