25

Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.  -Desiderata

This is part of a longer writing that used to hang on the wall at my Grandma Penny's house.  Today's countdown post is for her.  I'd like to say it is for her and Grandpa Russ, but he died when I was just a wee babe, so I don't remember him at all--thus, making it difficult to dedicate it to him.  I imagine that he is probably a lot like my dad and uncles, though.  They all look alike and have very similar mannerisms (but very different political views!!), so I imagine that's from Russ.  Grandma died several years ago, so she won't be at the marathon in TWENTY FIVE DAYS, but I can only imagine how proud she'd be if she were there.

Grandma Penny as a young child---Riah and I looked
exactly like that!

I was always jealous of kids who lived near their grandparents because they got to see them so often. I lived 5 hours away from both sides of Grandparents, which made for the longest car trip known to man as a young child (it was compared to lengths of TV shows--10 Mr. Rogers shows until we get there!).  I do know how lucky I was, though, that both sets of Grandparents lived in the same town.  My parents are  high school sweethearts and after they got together, both the Jones and Wulff Grandparents became friends--and my Grandmothers became best friends.  When Grandma Penny died, Gramma Bev was just as heart broken--if not more--as all of the Wulffs.  It was pretty great to have them be so close, and allowed for visiting not to be awkward--I never worried if I was offending one Grandparent when I went to the other's house.  They were friends and were happy to share!

Grandma Penny was a woman who gave more than anybody I've ever met.  Every Christmas Eve was spent at her house eating a buffet of pizzas (we Wulffs are classy folks--we also have fart machines planted all over the house) and drinking out of Styrofoam cups that she'd bought in 1985 and labeled with each of our names so we could reuse them every year--and we did.  One year, I saw an envelope lying on the table with some words and numbers written on it.  My Dad pointed at it and explained that it was a list--and a LONG list--of every charity she had given money to for Christmas.  She also volunteered time driving Meals-on-the-Go (like Meals-on-Wheels) for the hospital and was teaching an adult man to read.  I think she was probably in some civic organizations and volunteered at the hospital or library, as well.  She enjoyed spending all of her free time outdoors so she could enjoy her gardens and the birds.  And she played a mean game of Scrabble--except while falling asleep (courtesy of Narcolepsy) when she would create words nobody had ever heard of, but we never dared to challenge her because she had the vocabulary of Webster.com!   I am fairly confident that the only time in my life that I "roasted weenies" was at her house, and we had more than our fair share of s'mores while in her presence. 

Dorothy w/ the Wulff girls on vacation "Up North"

It would be wrong of me not to include her older sister, Dorothy, in this post as well.  For those of you who know Ding Darling (Google it if you do not), Dorothy was married to his son.  Her full name, we discovered during a family vacation in the 90's, was Faith Dorothy Evelyn Pennington Darling Powell.  Top that.  Dorothy and Penny talked on the phone regularly, though Dorothy lives in Florida.  Dorothy joined us on the aforementioned family vacation, and the 2 of those ladies (Penny, age 75 and Dorothy, 80) turned into competitive tweenagers.  In a game of pictionary in Grandma/Dorothy vs. all of the Grandchildren, the kids were getting frustrated because we were losing.  After several rounds of our butts getting handed to us, the sisters began to quarrel (as they would say).  The true story unveiled when they began to disagree about shorthand (also, if you don't know what this is, google it), and it then became evident that they were winning the game because they had cheated!!  In the pictures they were drawing, they had written shorthand to give away the answer.  Cheating in a game against children!!  Later that week, Dorothy also decided to go tubing off the back of the boat, to which Penny had no choice but to also do it--she was not about to be showed up by her 80 year old sister. 

Fall 2000, spent a weekend in Albert
Lea with the Grandmas!

While I have many memories of Grandma Penny, the most valuable ones are the ones I have from her final days before she died.  I learned a lot as we read through old journals from her sister, looked through boxes of old photos, and asked her questions about her life.  The value of the older generation is priceless.  I cannot fathom what it would be like to have grown up during the depression, but Grandma Penny did, and she told many-a-story about it.  She also lived like she was in it until her dying day--never spending excessively and saving every last potentially-usable item (and never throwing out any food in the fridge--that was the nastiest chore I've ever done!!). 

I wish Grandma were here to visit me next month and cheer me on--or heck, run it with me!  When I'm training, though, it never fails that I see a red cardinal on my run and I think of her.  I will never see a cardinal, a dew-covered cobweb or a chambered nautilus again without thinking of her. 

We miss you Grandma!!