Today, eighteen years ago my Grandma
Philpot died. My Grandma was an awesome
woman. She is was the type of Grandma I
want to be. I do not remember an
important event in my life that she did not come to. Her last trip out of Utah, was because Katie
had just been born and was getting blessed.
She was too sick to travel and I know she should not have come, but
there was no way she was going to miss it.
There is an advantage of being the
oldest. The biggest one is time spent
with loved ones. When my Grandma got
sick many of the younger grandchildren did not know the fun Grandma I
knew. I had an advantage of knowing
Grandma Philpot because I spent close to my first two and half years of my life
living on and off with my Grandparents.
This brought us closer together and I will always be grateful for that.
My favorite memory of my Grandma is
the day I ran away from home. She took
me to get a new dress and shoes. We went
to for lunch at Little America and she had the “roast baron of beef.” She always ordered that. I remember my Grandpa Philpot taking me home
on my Uncle Paul’s bike. That day was
the fourth best day of my life. (The
other three were the days my children were born.)
What did I learn from my
Grandma? I learned that loving God is
the most important. She loved serving
the Lord and you could see that as she got older. She promised the children in her primary
class that if they got married in the temple she would attend. She did just that and when we attended her
funeral and saw many of those primary children grown up you could see the
impact. I remember her telling me that
if the Lord asks you to do something you do it.
Second, love of family. Family is Heaven on Earth. My Grandparents loved their children and
grandchildren. They would have done
anything for them. This love was not always easy and I am sure my Dad and
uncles will tell you that it came with a price, but people get softer when they
older.
Third, how to work. My
Grandparents taught their children and they passed it down to their children,
who have hopefully passed it down to their children.
There has not been a day that has
gone by since my Grandma died, that I have not thought of her. There are days that I wished she was still
alive because I needed to call and talk to her, but instead I remember that she
would have said, “Go talk to Heavenly Father.”
I am glad that I had such a wonderful Grandma, what a blessing this
would has been. Thank you Grandma for
teaching me what it was is like to be a woman, mom, and some day grandma. I love you more than you will know. Which is not true because you loved us all
more than we will ever know.
