Look in the Mirror

My grandmother lived with us at different times while I was growing up. To me, she was like my mother. She was a great lady and I will always remember her with great affection. To me she was Grandma Fern and that's how I think of her today. Grandma Fern was a very resourceful person. She would make homemade pizza buns. She did this by taking hamburger buns, covering them with tomato paste and/or ketchup and then put shredded cheese and thinly sliced hot dogs on top. She would bake these in the oven and serve them hot. My brothers and I loved them.

Grandma Fern went out of her way to make sure that birthdays and Christmases were memorable activities. She wanted my brothers and I to feel like we were each special in our own ways and that we were loved.

She was quite active at church. For her any church activity, from sacrament meeting to cub scouts were not to be missed.

English: Sunday school class, Manzanar Relocation ...

A bicycle-based ice cream vendor in Indonesia

A girl eating an ice cream cone at the Fringe Sund...

The one big challenge that my grandmother had was smoking. She started smoking when she was 16 and had never stopped. She was in her 40's when she was baptized and so she must have stopped somewhere along the way, but from the time I was old enough to know what was going on I couldn't remember her without her cigarettes.

When I was about 15 years old I was supposed to be in Sunday school, but I was playing around in the hall with some of my friends instead. Grandma Fern must have come out of her class for a drink of water or something, all I know is that there she was and she did NOT have a happy look on her face. I don't remember what scolding words she used to...