90 Years Ago Today

Today would have been my grandma's 90th birthday. The last month and 20 days have been rough, but the more I share and pray and read the scriptures the better it becomes. So I wanted to make sure that I found a way today to honor her so I decided one of the things I would do is make a blog entry to remember her.

Grandma as a toddler with her father on the farm.

  Muriel Alice Vuille grew up on a farm in Goshen CT. I can't imagine that being a very easy life and the stories she shared didn't do anything to make it seem like it was. She was the second of four and the oldest girl. She was very close to her youngest sibling, her brother Paul, because she was the one his care fell to when her mother was ill. My grandma learned at a very young age to work hard and take care of the house. She loved the years she got to attend school but she didn't get to finish because she had to care for the house and Paul when her mother got sick and was hospitalized. When Great Grandma Goshen got well and came home grandma didn't go back to school she went to work in the factories. She married her teenage sweetheart and had her first child, my Uncle Johnny. Unfortunately that marriage ended in divorce but in 1951 she married my Grandpa, Arleigh Christensen.

Grandma on her honeymoon

Grandma and Grandpa on their honeymoon

My grandparents had 5 more kids, Cora, Paula (my mom who was named after grandma's brother Paul who died in a car crash while grandma was pregnant with my mom), Ethel, Lori and Thomas.

My Grandparents.

This is how I remember my grandparents. Because of circumstances I had a very unique and close relationship with them. When I was very young I believed that they were actually my parents but because they were so old they had given me to their oldest daughter to raise, followed by and angry letter to the stork and reason why we never used the fire place.
Things that remind me of my grandma, shamrocks, squirrels, Arizona, Uconn basketball, NASCAR, tennis and golf. Things I miss her baking, our arguments about calling Star and the National Enquirer the paper, her ability to keep everything and not having her home look like it belongs on hoarders,  her fear of all things electronic including but not limited to microwaves, VCRs and remotes, and her smile. Things I wish I could forget, the unanswered phone, the officer kicking down the door and paramedics offering their condolences.
Things I am grateful for, having known her, all the important times we shared, her always being there for me, being one of her favorites, and that when I saw her the day before my parting words were I Love You.

Till we meet again I will think of you often.

A picture I took on our trip to Arizona

On my wedding day

Holding Victor on his first Halloween

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