Grandparents!

My daughter, Catherine, with my mother, Marti in front of Schmidt's Sausage Haus in German Village, Columbus, Ohio.  

Grandparents are a wonderful thing in this world.  My parents are close to our four children (their only grandchildren).  My children can convince them to do things they'd NEVER do with me or my brother.  My mom makes silly faces, my dad will wear princess hat or a flamingo hat (for some reason, my youngest adores putting hats on grandpa).

My grandmother, Esther Grelle Brueggeman, lived with us part time (Christmas break and summer).  Grandma B would let my brother and I give her pop-a-wheelies in her wheel chair when we pushed her.  She also let us ride in it when she was sitting in her chair.  She freely shard her crist-o-mint lifesavers.  I don't remember Grandma before she was in a wheelchair (I do remember the 3 tiered candy dish in her dining room and my cousins trying to convince me to sled down her stairs, but I'm a big chicken and their was a turn on those steep, old stairs. . .).  I'm the youngest of the grandkids.

My older cousins remember more.  Susan remembers Grandma coming over after church every Sunday for a meal.  Grandma spent a lot of time petting Sweetie-pie the cat.  Grandma laughed a lot and would bake something (like pecan rolls) every time Susan or her sister did something spectacular (like bowling.  they were amazing at bowling).

It's the small joys with grandparents.  They look at us as if we're magical and we just KNOW they love us.  My father never knew is grandparents.  I wonder how Ernst August would have doted on my dad.