mrs. h.m.moberg

my great-grandmother meets graham for the first time.... this picture was taken in july 2004 and she passed away in september

during this visit - graham kept "pinching" her arm - she kept saying "pinch..pinch... pinch... pinch"

my beautiful floor!

....that is how i used to address my thank you letters and birthday cards to my great-grandmother - mrs. helen martha moberg.

about a week ago - i had one of those moments where i really missed my great-grandmother.... i think of her often since she was such a special lady to me as a child. she used to babysit me on occasion and i can vividly remember going to mcdonald's with her and also playing at her house. she ALWAYS had pepermints and butterscotch candies in her living room. she also kept a stash of rubberbands on her pantry door.... she lived 102.5 years!! - and her quote in the last few years of her life was "i have lived a wonderful life!" in the last 5 months that we have lived here in the netherlands - we have toured many museums and i can't help but think of all the history that even my great-grandmother witnessed in her 102.5 years of life! amazing!!

i was running through the forest and i spotted a wildflower out of the corner of my eye... it immediately took me back to the days as a child wondering through the forest with my great-grandmother at my parent's cabin in minnesota - looking at all the wildflowers and wildberries. it seemed like she knew EVERY flower, tree, bird, and animal. and she LOVED to walk! even into her mid-80's she would walk everywhere.

while we were on our house-hunting trip to the netherlands last fall - my first impression of the house we are living in right now - is that my great-grandmother would have loved our checkered floor! she had one exactly like it in her basement. i can remember "going fishing" as a child on this checkered floor. she would tie a string to an old broom handle and we (my siblings and i) would cast it out onto the floor - my great-grandmother would then place a tinker toy on the string and we would reel it in!

really there are thousands of stories that i could sit her and write about - but physical reminders like these 2 (my floor and the flowers) reassure me that my great-grandmother is smiling down on me from heaven.