Grandma.

My grandma Pat had a stroke in late September 2013. She was a stubborn lady - full-blooded Italian, couldn't tell her anything. She refused to do any of the therapy or take her medication. Part of it was the aforementioned stubbornness. Part of it was due to the fact that my grandpa died in June 2007 and she wanted nothing more than to be with him. So any opportunity on her part to speed that along, she took. She was also a germaphobe with undiagnosed OCD, and kept absolutely everything she could in Ziploc bags.  And, she loved to sew.

We moved her out of her house in the spring of 2014, so we could sell it and use the money to help pay for her care. My mom's three sisters all live out of state (one in Tennessee, two in Texas). They came up one week to divvy up her stuff.  Because nobody else wanted it, I ended up with her sewing machine. My experience with sewing is limited to 7th grade home ec. I also sew on buttons and used to cross-stitch.

Grandma finally passed in September 2015, just a shade over two years since her stroke.

Last Thursday, I decided that I was going to teach myself how to sew with the machine that I inherited somehow. I watched some Youtube videos (one with this weird British lady that said it was totally okay to sew over pins, despite what THE REST OF THE WORLD says) and fell in love with Gretchen Hirsch. Go check her stuff out if you can, she's awesome.  But I digress.

Then I got out the manual so I could thumb through it and familiarize myself with that particular machine. It's a Singer that she bought in 1993.

I found this:

She'd crossed out everything that didn't apply to her machine and highlighted the things that did. Such a Patty thing to do.

And, of course, the manual was in a Ziploc bag.

Ever since then, I feel like she's been talking to me. On Friday morning I was out on the deck having a cup of coffee, when I saw a cardinal. I'd long heard that if you see a cardinal, it's someone saying hello to you from Heaven.  At the time, though, I was just like: Oh, neat. A cardinal.

Later that day Allyson and I went to Wal-Mart to find a gift for her friend's birthday party. We are going to St. Louis next weekend (to meet up with my brother Kevin, who is in the Army and stationed in Kosovo; he's coming back to the States for a few days on leave and STL is a great middle point for us). So we decided to hit up the travel-size-stuff section. (Which - sidebar - is my favorite. When I was a teenager my mom would go to that section, grab one of everything, and use that to fill my Christmas stocking. I wish she'd still do it because I LOVE THAT.)

What did I see sitting there? Travel-size packages of Wet Ones.  This is only significant because my grandma always had a can of Wet Ones in her car. ALWAYS. If she was riding with you, that can came with her. She always had Wet Ones and Wint-o-Green Life Savers. Which I ended up putting a box of out at work the next day.  I of course bought myself a package of the Wet Ones. I had to!

I am entirely convinced that it's my grandma letting me know she's happy in Heaven. And I am glad she is.

Oh, and as for the sewing: I don't have pictures but I did sew something! It looks like a little pillowcase now, but once I attach a strap to it, Allyson will have a little purse. :)