Grandparents (maternal)

My husband kept getting up coughing last night because he overate so his loud stupid voice kept waking me up and at 3 I just laid there thinking until I got up a few minutes ago. Thinking a lot about my grandparents, all of them.

My maternal grandmother loved me so much and she died when I was 13. She had a bleeding ulcer but was too scared to leave her house even to go to the doctor. She was a Christian so I know I'll see her again. I really miss her.

My maternal grandfather died 10 years later. He was a Christian too, except my grandmother was loving and he was just critical. My mom liked to say he was a "cool Swede," not showing much emotion, acting like she was proud that she turned out the same way.

One of my mom's favorite "memories" of my grandma was when she was a kid, my grandma was making supper and her apron caught on fire. She started screaming and my grandpa just calmly reached over for a towel and patted the fire out. Another one she likes to tell is when she went swimming with some friends in the Rock River and my grandma accidentally fell in. My grandma panicked and was upset thinking she was going to drown, and my mom said her friends were laughing because the water at that point was only 3 feet deep.

My dad's favorite stories of my grandma involve how she would call every day and my dad would tell her she had the wrong number, and how one year for Christmas he wrapped up a brick to give her as a present. I know everyone thinks these are funny, but my heart HURTS.