The Family From Yosemite - 2013

We did our Family From Yosemite stories in shifts this year - Christmas day and last night for Family Home Evening. This Family From Yosemite thing is evolving. It was suggested that we should include some stories and other things written by extended family members and also more of the stories I have written on my blog. It's all about family history and it looks like we've got some work to do to update our book. I will be working on it throughout the year to be prepared for next Christmas. This was my contribution this year:

“Ask Grandma!”

December 2013 - by Martha R. Blair

Going to the store with kids usually ends up involving a request or I should say, many requests from child to parent:

“Can I have some candy?”

“Can I get a toy?”

“Can we buy this cereal?”

And then it’s topped with pleading and begging:

“Please!”

“Please, please, please!”

In the early years of training, you might end up with a big fit or tantrum with tears because you said, “No.” I’d say, “yes” sometimes, but most of the time it was “no”. My budget could only go so far, not to mention it’s not healthy to get everything you want.  Even before we left the house I would make it clear what the situation was, “So don’t even ask.”  I would say that, but the asking still came.

Of course they wanted something, who wouldn’t. Their lives are sprinkled with treats and goodies and I certainly wanted to give in to their sweet requests, but “no” was the way it needed to be.

One day at the grocery store, Cassie, at the time, my petite little preschooler, wanted something.  She had a bit of a speech impediment.  That didn’t stop her from talking, in fact, her altered speech and happy manners made her quite endearing. I still said, “NO.”

She was very insistent and in fact, she was so insistent I worried if my “no” might insight a desire to take something.  I thought to test her understanding of stealing. I asked, “What will you do Cassie when you want something and mommy says ‘No?’”

She was quick to say, with a beaming smile on her face, “OOOOh, I’ll ask Grandma!”

I laughed about it then and I’m smiling about it now because I am a grandma who is more inclined to giving into the pleas of little grandchildren.

That brings me to Sam, the baby of the family. Everyone enjoyed Sam, but I also was a Momma Bear in protection mode from his older siblings.  I was constant in coming to his defense when big kids would come around with their parenting opinions, “You’d never do that for me.” and “He gets everything!”  They were very unaware that I did more for them than they obviously knew when they were little, hum-pf TEENAGERS, I rest my case.

But as time went on and big kids got bigger, and grandchildren came.  I called Sammy, the “leader of the pack.”  He was just five years senior to our first grandchild, Jeremiah.  I was definitely older and taking the grandma reigns, more tired with more money than I had in the beginning as a young mother. One day in my early grandma career, my son, Billy, made an observation, “Mom, I finally figured out why you treat Sammy the way you do.  You’re not a mom anymore, you’re a grandma.”

My reaction - maybe.

Me being GRANDMA with Ammon (Grandchild #4)

Me being MOM with Sam (9 years old in this picture.)

Here's what kind of grandma I am. We had all the grandkids here over the holiday and I forgot to take a picture with all of them. I'm hoping it won't be too long and we'll be together again. Grandma's are forgetful.

"Your story should be written now while it is fresh and while the true details are available. … What could you do better for your children and your children’s children than to record the story of your life, your triumphs over adversity, your recovery after a fall, your progress when all seemed black, your rejoicing when you had finally achieved? Some of what you write may be humdrum dates and places, but there will also be rich passages that will be quoted by your posterity."

--President Spencer W. Kimball (New Era, October 1975)