Grandma's Gal

 One fun thing about moving is going through stuff and finding things to throw away.  While I'm not generally attached to "stuff", I also am not an incredibly organized person (I know, I know, my sis and sil are laughing right now--understatement of the year, right?) so "stuff" does tend to accumulate.

I went through an old jewelry box which, yes, contained jewelry from my childhood, and I found a precious memory in the form of an incredibly cheap (even tacky) absolutely useless necklace.  I threw away everything else in the box and gave the box itself away, but this necklace made its way to my Rubbermaid "keepsake" box Marcy encouraged me to tuck in the back of my closet.

You see, I was blessed with the most incredible grandmother anyone could ever have.  I'm pretty sure there is a picture of her in the dictionary beside the word "meek".  She was the epitome of a Christian woman and radiated kindness and joy.  When she passed away four years ago, the line at the visitation stretched clear to the curb outside even though she was nearly 91 years old and had experienced the death of most of her family and friends--she was simply loved by all who knew her.

I am blessed to have many memories of time spent with her throughout my childhood.  She played with my sister and me, taught us to sing songs from the 20s and 30s as she accompanied us on the piano, and made the best hot dogs and macaroni and cheese when we went to her house.  I spent hours snapping beans with her and hearing Bible stories from her and all these moments are liberally sprinkled with the memory of her sweet giggle.

When I opened this old jewelry box and lifted out a necklace emblazoned with the name 'Gail', memories rushed over me.  Grandma had been shopping at Ben Franklin's and saw this necklace on a sale rack for just a couple dollars.  She bought it for me because she said it made her think of me since I was "Grandma's Gal."

Oh, how we giggled until the tears rolled down our cheeks when I pointed out that the necklace said "Gail" not "Gal".  I thought it was pretty funny then, but now I am ever so glad she saw it as "Gal" and bought it for me and that I, in my disorganization, had somehow never gotten rid of it so it would prompt this long-forgotten memory.  I enjoyed sharing the story with my children so when I die and they find a cheap, mis-named necklace among my treasures they will understand why.