Grandma Hyer

Every Thursday that we're in town, Caleb and I head to Nampa and spend the day with Grandma. Grandma Hyer is Andy's dad's mom. Caleb calls her Grandma. Perhaps someday it will be Grandma Hyer, but for now it is just Grandma. Andy's mom is Grandma Evie, my mom is Grammy, and my Grammy is Great-Grammy. I think he knows them all now.

Since today was Thursday we headed over to Grandma's. We're usually late since Caleb and I are currently not early risers. I try to get there before Grandma gets out of bed but we don't always make it. Today, however, when we got there at ten we had to wake Grandma up. She was really out of it this morning but was so happy when I put Caleb up on her bed and she saw him. The fact that she was still in bed was a bad sign and it's amazing how big of a difference Caleb makes in her mood. I was nervous for the day but today turned out to be my very favorite day with Grandma that I can remember so I wanted to record it.

Waking up to Caleb just made her happy and she got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. During breakfast we talked about going to the medical clinic, no, I told her that she was going to the medical clinic and she declared she wasn't going. I called Janell, her daughter that lives with her, at work, hoping she could convince her. No luck. Janell suggested I go for a drive and while we're at it just go to the medical center. So we let it rest and she asked if I was going to take down the Christmas tree. The tree has been up partly because no one has had the time to take it down and partly because Janell has enjoyed it and wanted it up a little longer this year. Grandma wanted Christmas down on the 26th and has been saying so. Janell and I took everything but the tree down last week, but today Caleb and I took down the tree. You should have seen the happy look on her face as we packed it away. She thanked me over and over. I often do things around the house and usually she just tells me to stop working but today she was so happy she thanked and thanked me. I was so amazed. Seeing how happy it was making her to take down the tree I decided to finish before going on our little drive.

After hauling the tree to the shed, we got ready for a trip to Boise. I told her she could go see our apartment since she's never been there and she was really excited. I suppose it wasn't very nice to go to the medical center. I told her that since we were in the car we would just stop by the medical center and then go on to Boise. I really had planned on taking her on an outing today and I thought that coming to Boise to see our apt would be fun. She so enjoyed our trip to the zoo in October, we needed another fun outing. However, she really did not want to go to the medical center. All she had to do was get a urine test--essentially pee in a cup. But she didn't want to. She told me I was very stubborn and I agreed. She said she could be more stubborn than me and she was not getting out of the car. I called Janell again as we sat parked in front of the medical center. Grandma had a hard time hearing in the cell phone so Janell said that her whole office knew her mother needed to get a urine test done since she was yelling into the phone. We eventually got Grandma to agree and had quite the adventure at the medical center. Grandma told me I was not allowed to tell anyone any details since those things are private. However, I will say that Caleb had a grand time riding on her lap in the wheel chair, pushing buttons on the elevator, and generally playing around. Grandma and I had a good laugh (though she won't admit that she found it at all enjoyable) about the whole ordeal. The only other thing I will say is that Grandma had to drink a ton of water and I said a prayer so that she could go pee and hit the cup. She said that's the first time she's ever heard a prayer like that. It was answered and the mission was accomplished. :)

Very happy to be done we headed to Boise on the back roads, Grandma's preferred route. She loved driving through the farm land and looking at the clouds. It was Caleb's naptime and he fell asleep. When we got to our apt it was 2:00 and we hadn't had lunch yet. Grandma wanted Andy to be the one to show her around the apartment and didn't want to disturb Caleb, so I ran inside and made some sandwiches and we took our "picnic" up the mountain. We just drove up Bogus Basin Road and looked at the scenery. Although we didn't make it all the way to the ski resort, we did get up into the snow and pine trees. Grandma loved looking at the sky and all the scenery. The sky was pretty spectacular--light shining on and through the clouds of a myriad of shapes and colors. She kept saying how pretty everything was and how much she enjoyed our ride. And how ready she was for her own nap. Unfortunately she didn't get a nap and was very tired by the time Janell got home from work and Caleb and I left. She thanked me again for such a wonderful day before I left and I cannot tell you how good that made me feel. It's not often that I make Grandma's day or do anything that seems to really make her happy so it was the most wonderful feeling in the world to see how happy she was. I hope we can take more outings in the future.

While I'm writing about Grandma I wanted to recored some stories she always tells. They may be recored elsewhere, but I'll do my own version. Grandma has often told me of how she and her family moved from Mexico to El Paso when she was about five years old. She spoke mostly Spanish and said her parents didn't realize how little English she spoke. She was used to speaking a mix of the two languages and having that be normal. Since they moved in the middle of the school year, on her first day of school she was asked to get up and tell a bit about herself. She did so in a mix of Spanish and English and was terribly embarrassed when everyone thought it was really funny to hear her talk. When the kids were released for recess, she headed for home and told her mother she was not going back to that gringo school! Her mother took her hand and said, "Oh, yes you are!" and marched her right back. She recalls with great fondness her first grade teacher who took extra time to teach her how to read, taking time, patience, and care with her so that she caught up to her English speaking classmates. She says that teachers aren't often like that anymore and she will be forever grateful for that teacher.

I'll have to get more stories from her and post them occasionally. She's always telling me about when she and Herold moved to Boise or about times in Star Valley or about her family growing up during the depression. She's lived an interesting life and is an interesting lady.