Bittersweet Memories

I was lucky to have been able to grow up having four of my grandmothers in my life.

This is my brother and I at my Great-Grandma B.'s 80^th birthday party. My Grandma D. (standing next to me in the back row) was my dad's mother. Below her in the front row was her mother, Great-Grandma B. In the middle of the front row is Great-Grandma I. She was my dad's father's mother. And on the left in the front row is my Grandma A., who was my mother's mom.

Great-Grandma I. lived in a trailer home in Melba. Growing up we would visit her often as my Grandma A. lived just down the street. I didn't realize until recently how much my Great Aunt Mary Ann (Grandpa's sister) looks so much like her. The Christmas tradition Grandma I. started years ago continues today. Each year on Christmas Day, about 50 of my Ihli family gathers for an afternoon dinner. They are all each so special to me and I am so thankful for this tradition. I remember celebrating her 80^th birthday at the Norris Chuckwagon buffet where my cousin's taught me how to make a “suicide” drink at the beverage fountain. I don't remember how old she was when she passed away. We lost her and my Great Uncle Dick in the same week.

Great-Grandma B. owned a house in Marsing until she wasn't able to continue to live there alone. We would visit her often at various stages in my life. She lived near a pasture with a horse out back. We played in the carport shed as kids. We hunted for snails in the canal water than ran along the front of her property. Grandma B. was a character and she told each person individually they were her favorite. To this day, we really don't know who her actual favorite was. Once she got too bad to live alone, she was moved into an assisted living center in Nampa and then eventually moved to the nursing home side. She lived to be 93 years old and still had such spunk up until the day she passed away.

Grandma A. was my favorite and the grandmother I was closest to. When we were kids, the four of us would get split up in twos amongst the grandparents and Jenny and I always went to Grandma A.'s house. Whenever I watch the Golden Girls, I am flooded with memories of her and sitting on her “davenport” in the living room watching it on the television that you had to get up to change the channels on. She wrote me letters through high school, college, and on into my adult life. She lived in her home in Melba for 60 years. After she had a mild stroke, she came to live with my parent's where she resided until she passed away. She lived to be 95 years old.

My Grandma D. passed away most recently. It was a shock to have her gone so soon and yet she was in a lot of pain so we didn't want to watch her suffer. She was my youngest grandmother and boy did she have spunk to her. Unlike her mother, Great-Grandma B., Grandma D. was very headstrong and opinionated. But, she was also very kind and loving. She and Grandpa were married just over 60 years. All of my memories of Grandma D. are tied to the house in Silver City and also Murphy. They owned Ihli Title & Escrow for all the years I remember. We used to love to visit their large two-story house off SH45 where we would slide down the stairs and play McDonald's drive-thru window with the fireplace curtain. We also used to fight over who got to take a bath in the jetted tub, a highlight of staying the night. Once they relocated their house to Murphy along with their business, we rode four wheelers every holiday. We even rode snowmobiles, where I swear my brother hit the gas so fast I feel off the back! I think she was just 82 when she passed away.

Finding these photos on my computer that I scanned in some time ago is bitter sweet. So many fond memories and yet neither of them are here to hug. I didn't have the privilege of knowing my great-grandmother's on my Mom's side. They lived in Missouri and were long gone before I came along. I like to believe that one day we get to see our loved ones again.

I can't wait to give them all hugs and kisses.