Everyone Needs a Grandma Beena

I definitely won the Grandma lottery when I was born a Merrill. Everyone should have a Grandma Beena, if they did there would be a lot less trouble, maybe even world peace :)

Beena, Dad, and Kelli April 1994 (Grandma's 95th Birthday)

Lived in three centuries, Daughter of a Handcart Pioneer, 4' 10" spit fire. Grandma Beena was funny, I mean tears rolling down your cheeks, funny. I remember riding in the back of her 1963 Buick Wildcat, while she drove us around Cache Valley She sat on big cushions and always had a white paper plate on the dash ready to hold up to block the sun, she was too short for the visors to work. She was in her nineties, but nobody told her. She quit driving at 95 because the walk to the car got to hard (she could still out walk me with her cane)

Me (yes I'm pregnant with Alex), Beena and Mom Summer 1998

She always told us stories of hiding the coffee pot from the Home Teachers and Hanging her wash inside on Sundays. But we also knew she had a profound love and respect for her LDS pioneer heritage and faith.

Funniest Grandma Beena moment for me was when Kelli and I were older teenagers. We we visiting her apartment in the Senors Village. She was telling us her neighbour had recently passed away... We said Oh Grandma we are so sorry. "That's okay." she said "They didn't find her for a few days, They probably had to take her out with a shovel!" Kelli, Dad and I laughed 'til it hurt. I have laughed for years.

Beena and our gang April 1999 (Grandma's 100th Birthday)

Grandma was acquainted with heartache, knew how to stretch a penny, and could always find the brighter side of life. Terrified of snakes and thunder, seriously phobic.  She was kind. Even after my parents separated she still welcomed my mom into her home with open arms, that meant so much to me.

When Holly was born she gave me the best parenting advice any one could. "Raise your kids so other people can stand them!"  She always said  "The cure to any worry is work". Her life was a testament to that.

When Grandma passed away at 103, a cousin of mine said "She is the only 103 year old that you could say died unexpectedly" Beena has left a wonderful legacy. One I am honoured to claim.

Happy Mother's Day :)