Grandma Z.

I feel like I haven't been very diligent at recording my experiences and stories of the past couple years and I recently heard a speaker talk about the importance of recording our lives and our stories and I want to do better.  A lot has happened in the recent years that has truly molded me and changed me.  Someone just might need to hear about my experiences some day.
Several weeks after Iris died my Aunt Ruth Ann gave me a folder with a journal entry from my Grandma Zollinger.  Ethel Zollinger was my mother's mother.  She was a gardener, a hard worker and extremely frugal.  I remember her laugh and how sweet she was to us.  She lost her first born son one year after she was married.  He was born a couple months early and weighed 4 lbs 7 oz.  Back in those days I do not think doctors were as skilled at saving these premature babies.  Also, back in those days a mother was confined to the hospital for ten days after giving birth so she did not even get to attend the funeral for her sweet baby boy, Clinton Dennis Zollinger.  It was so amazing to read just a small part of her thoughts on this experience.  She recorded, "There were tears shed but a there was a feeling come over me that is hard to describe.  Of course, they expressed their sympathy but I just wished they would go.  I felt so close to heaven and wanted to pray and talk to the Lord."  I love that she WANTED to pray and talk to her Father in Heaven.  There were lots of prayers during our experience with Iris and we also had similar feelings of not really wanting to be around people at the height of our grief.
When she and my grandfather went to pay the bills at the mortuary he would not take any money and said that the Zollingers and Nelsons had been good to them and also my Grandpa was in the service defending this country and him.  We had a very similar experience when all the expenses came up family and friends were beyond generous to us.  It was amazing to feel that love and overwhelming support during a dark time.  I like to think that Iris's name came from my Grandma Zollinger.  Ethel is a bit of tricky name to use these days (just not usable :)) but my grandma ALWAYS had lots of flowers growing in her yard, especially Irises.  Every Memorial day she would gather all her old 2 liter soda bottles and cute the tops off.  Then she would cut a whole bunch of flowers from her yard (lots of Irises) and take some rocks and head to Providence cemetery.  When we got there too we would help her assemble the soda bottle bottom flower arrangements with rocks to keep them from tipping over.  (Did I mention she was thrifty? :))  I love this memory of my Grandma and the Irises.  She was strong, faithful, and she trusted in the Lord throughout her life.  I pray I can do the same and I am thankful for her example.