Fall and Grandma

My favorite season is coming! Fall.  Leaves. Cool nights. Halloween. Pumpkin spice everything. Trips to the mountains.  I can usually smell it's arrival in early October.  Smells in the air make me nostalgic about important events in my life - good or bad.  One of my favorite memories is going to my grandparent's house for apple pie.  Grandma makes the best pie I've ever tasted.  Just sweet enough to make you feel warm and cozy.  Their house is filled with beautiful trinkets, glass crystal and pictures of family.  Their home brings back so many amazing memories.  The belly busting laughter at the dinner table, usually at the expense of my grandfather, makes my stomach ache each time we leave.  As the years progress, it is getting more difficult for grandma to stand in the kitchen on her tired feet to make the pies.  It's not necessarily the taste of the pie that makes it so memorable, but how she makes it.  I love watching as she cuts a heart out of the dough and places it in the middle of the pie.  It's so that we remember she made it with love as she says.  Standing with her just tugs at my heart strings.  She may be tiny, but her heart and head are strong.  She has the softest hands you could ever imagine.  I could hold them for days.  I love how she takes the time to whisper her favorite things about you as you are ready to leave the house.  Each grandchild and great-grandchild is her "favorite."  However, I know that being the only granddaughter makes me very special to her.  She loved me from the first time our eyes met.  I can never express my love for her worthy enough for paper.  She makes my sad days turn into some of the best days of my life.  As we drive away from their house, I see my grandparents standing and waving from the glass door.  Family traditions - nothing compares.  I will always see her in that doorway blowing kisses and me feeling like I'm her little girl again.  Fall is a wonderful season that brings joy to my heart along with the memories to last a lifetime.

I wrote this after my grandmother passed away.  It's a sadness that I cannot express. Her heartstrings will forever be connected to mine.  I feel her presence and talk to her a lot.  I know she's watching and holding my hand when times are hard.