Grandmollie

My dear Grandmollie passed away this week. She turned 102 this month. We tried to go see her right around her birthday but Corona virus/ Covid 19 kept us away. Her niece Rachel texted me Sunday to say they Mollie wasn't doing so well. J and K couldn't go because of work and CEF, but the rest of the kids and I got in the car early Wednesday morning to go see her. We drove to Madison, GA where we met my parents. We went into Wendy's for lunch when I got a message from Rachel that said that the nursing home was under quarantine- no visitors could come in. I called and verified with Rachel and with the nursing home staff that was the case. They didn't really explain whether it was because of flu or corona virus, but were very clear that we would not be able to see Mollie. I asked Rachel to tell Mollie we loved her and Happy Birthday (her 102nd birthday was the day before.) My dad drove back to Madison while my Mom went with me and the kids to spend the night near Atlanta. I didn't want to drive all the way to MS to find out that we couldn't go in but didn't have the heart to drive home. so we decided to spent the night in Atlanta and try again the next day. Several people recommended we go to World of Coca Cola which we did and really enjoyed! It was neat to see the movie and how Coke has been made and marketed over the years, but the highlight for everyone was the tasting room where we tasted Coca-Cola products around the world. Some were good and some not so good :) but we enjoyed trying.

We went from World of Coca-Cola to our hotel and were very happy that they served dinner there. After dinner, we played some games in the hotel room- pool, super size Jenga, tic-tac-toe, and then headed out to Aldi's for dessert. We played skipbo and had dessert in the room before going to bed. We slept amazingly well for 4 people in a bedroom and 3 in a living room and woke up just in time for breakfast the next morning. The kids all loved the hotel breakfast. I did break my elimination diet  by having a mini-omelet which was good. Then we hit the road. We considered going to a big museum on the way back home but the pouring rain made me really tired. We decided to go see a museum in Aiken, SC (where Dad's parents retired after the Panama Canal Zone.) I'm glad we did. The Aiken County Historical Museum was really neat. Lots of great information and displays.

We got home Thursday afternoon and then my Dad drove up Friday from Florida.  K was away at Teaching Children Effectively for CEF- a class he'd been taking each Friday with a couple other teens from here. James was at a church children's ministry event in VA. we played a lot of board games  including Ticket to Ride. We went to get a snowcone in honor of Mollie and then kids played some soccer at Reid Ross Park that afternoon. Friday evening my Mom and I went to a Ramsey Street Women's night-  a friend made a Bible Taboo game to play. We had a fun night! Saturday was a busy day of soccer games- four recreation league games that morning and James took C/T to their travel game in Raleigh. It was fun watching all the different levels of soccer. V did not dance- he twirled around the field. In between twirls, he did have some good kicks :) c did great in her game. She was very focused! K surprised us by playing goalie- he did a good job! KG was a little disappointed to not play goalie but she did great in the field! My parents, the kids and I enjoyed a good lunch at cookout and then an afternoon at home. Sunday we went to church and then took T and C to their travel game up in Raleigh. The Force was down 0-3 at halftime and then came back to win 4-3 at the end. C scored the final goal! We celebrated with snowcones and then headed home for James to grill steaks.

Our trip down to MS did not turn out as we'd hoped but we were glad that Rachel said that Mollie was doing better. Rachel was not allowed in but hospice nurses were giving her updates and said Sunday that Mollie was sitting in the living room area eating ice cream. I was glad to hear that. It reminded me of lots of visits with Mollie eating snowcones or blueberry cobbler with ice cream. Or recently her not wanting to wait to have the icing off the cupcakes! Here's some favorite pics of Mollie through these last 10 years. Maybe sometime we can find her Madison book to get the older pics.

Then Wednesday 18 March, Mr. Stephens called me. I knew when the phone rang that it meant Mollie had passed away. I was very sad. Sad that we didn't get to see her again, sad that won't be able to see her again to tell her we love. but I know she was ready and that she's in a better place now! She lived a good life and is rejoicing in heaven now. Because of the Corona virus, there won't be a funeral but here's the link to her obituary

Some Mollie memories
-telling my parents the first day she met them "eat up, it's all I have until payday"
-hearing her stories of growing up- all the fruit trees, her brothers driving the school bus, her Ira working on the railroad
-so many trips to the Carousel
-even more trips to get a snow cone- best snow cones in the world!
-going to the Native American festival
-playing lots of Skipbo
-trying to teach me to play bridge
-going to 4th of July concerts
-eating out at the Checkerboard buffet
-going to church Sundays and Wednesday night
-coming to my high school graduation and giving me my pink Bible
-coming to our wedding and giving us the handmade cookbook.

We will always love and miss our Grandmollie!