Eulogy

Most of you who know me in the real world know that I lost my Grandma on Friday. This has been a very hard time for me. I've been consumed with all of the feelings people have when a loved one dies. I've also been feeling pain and worry for my mom. I'm really not in a place to write about what has happened....how I feel...not even so much the day-to-day recap of the normal things...
My sister wrote a nice piece about the funeral day. Wander on over to Edgehill House to get her scoop.

I did speak at the funeral. I've had some people ask to read what I said. This is what I wrote out the night before. It was pretty much stream of consciousness with spaces and dots and such for ease of reading aloud. I have tons of stories and many other memories (as we all do), but I stuck with a few short ones to keep things real. to keep things light.

Freda Bernadine Snodgrass was my Grandma.
She was also a wife, mother, sister, aunt, niece and friend.
…A seamstress, tutor, chef, cheering section…

She loved tomato sandwiches,
Miracle whip on her lettuce,
Cream in her coffee.

She was a night owl that liked to stay up late and watch tv.
She loved The Golden Girls and I remember watching that with her on the little tiny tv in the kitchen while football or “In The Heat of The Night” was on in the living room.

She was a fan of The Price is Right, but not of Drew Carey.

She watched Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy every night after dinner. She was known to shout out the puzzle answers and question Vanna’s choice of wardrobe.

She sat in her chair at the end of the living room – in tandem with Grandpa’s chair – and watched Days of Our lives after lunch. She usually fell asleep before the end, but that gave me, as a preschooler, the perfect opportunity to drink the last cold sip of creamy coffee from her cup.

She was a great cook.

One of the strongest memories I have is of walking up the stairs from the basement and hearing the pressure cooker, full of green beans. She made the best green beans. Complete with onions that the adults always fought over. I never did – at the time thinking onions were disgusting. Now, I love them. I never had one of Grandma’s onions.

She baked birthday cakes, applesauce cake and pumpkin pies.
She once made a 3-D rainbow and pot of gold appear on my birthday cake. The gold being yellow m&ms.

For years her refrigerator housed the coolest summertime invention, the picklevador. Tupperware never knew what memories it created.

How can we talk of food and Grandma without mentioning Fiestaware? She probably never even thought twice about her dinnerware, that is until she found out her children and grandchildren all became fanatical Fiesta fans. Now, I have started with my daughter and I think I’ve even converted my husband.

Even after she stopped cooking, Grandma watched Food TV. Learning about new foods, new recipes, and deciding which celebrity chef was worth his or her fancy show.

Grandma had a wicked sense of humor – sarcasm.
Each of us has either fallen prey to or found boisterous laughter with her quick – sometimes cutting- wit.

Ask anyone in this room for a quick story... My brother in law “Kevin” or any number of waitresses at the Parkette or Eat n Park.

Just yesterday someone mentioned how Grandma might not have been the most touchy-feely person in the room, but she was always appreciative of people and fiercely protective of her family. I think her humor was her way of coping with stress and uncomfortable situations.

Even so, she was always there to make me laugh. I remember when I found out she had false teeth. We were in the back seat of one of the many Fifth Avenue cars, on the way somewhere… I don’t even remember how old I was… I just remember something about dentures and then POP - she opened up and stuck out her bottom teeth. I was totally shocked. and laughed.

She wanted the best for us, the best for her family.

Grandma was a smart and articulate woman.

She taught me to read. She made me finish my homework. She came to my basketball games. She applauded my science fair projects and Helped be become the person I am today.

She was my first best friend.