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So, have you heard, Me With You by Kristy Dempsey is in stores now? What, you say? You did not know! Then you must not be reading my blog! I just happen to know the author. She's my cousin! We even sort of look alike! We smile the same, have a bold deep belly laugh and spent many a day cavorting around together...you know, back in the day! We have shared so many memories in our lives, from me wanting to be just like her growing up (she was a gymnast, and well...I just wanted to be one) to her coming to Venezuela to live with us the year we welcomed my little sister, Katie, into our lives, to later having Kristy be a part of my special day - my wedding. She and I have a relationship that, irregardless of the fact she currently lives in Brazil, when we talk, FACEBOOK, or actually see each other from time to time, we just catch right up where we left off...usually, that means laughing our tails off. So, you see, relationship is important stuff to us, and it just so
happens to be the subject of Me With You. What began as a love letter to her husband, took the shape of a children's book that embraces the relationship of a grandparent with a grandchild. Some of our (Kristy and my) memories are shared together primarily because of the relationship all of us grandkids had with our Nanoo. It was at her home that we played, bonded, made memories. So, this book, you see, is really just the right thing to do! I'm so happy Kris envisioned this, and even more happy that here we are once again making memories together. I get the honor of promoting and bragging on her!So, if you haven't viewed the trailer (make sure you pause my playlist), watch it now...it's the following post. Once you view it, come back and tell me the most significant memory you share with your grandparent, or the person that impacted your life like a grandparent would. We'll pick the one we like the best and you will receive a signed (did I mention I KNOW the author?) copy of Me With You. You will also receive an all expense paid vacation to Brazil to meet the author! NOT REALLY! Got your attention, though, right? Nope, you can meet the author if you live in my area on August 11th at LifeSong Church. She will join us for a community wide book signing, along with craft time. It's the perfect BACK to SCHOOL event for all of your kids!
So, hop to it! Let's hear those stories about your grandparents! Tell your friends, and have them tell their friends about this giveaway. This will be a book that you will treasure for the rest of your life!
7 comments:
Oohhh, this is so exciting! The book looks great - I was looking forward to it since I first heard you or Missy mention it on your blogs.
I didn't get to see my maternal grandparents much growing up because they lived in South Carolina and we lived in Mexico, but I have so many fond memories of them - they made sure the times we did spend together were AMAZING! We came up to visit them every summer and always had a blast. One of the stories my brothers and I remember the most is making ice cream one summer with them. My grandmother always picked strawberries for me in the Spring and froze them so that I would enjoy them during my visit (strawberries are my favorite) so we decided to use some and make strawberry ice cream. It was all going well until my grandpa (a peanut butter lover) thought it would be a good idea to add peanut butter to the ice cream - my brother immediately agreed! Well ... it was nasty! We ended up with a weird flavored strawberry/peanut butter ice cream and the worst part ... chunks of cold, hard peanut butter! The ice cream didn't turn out good but we had such a great time and we still laugh about that day now.
Testing comment page. Hope this clears up any problems you had.
Okay, I just couldn't pass this one up! The book looks so sweet!
I called my grandfather Grandkad. Apparently, I couldn't say Granddad, so Grandkad it was and it stuck! Grandkad & I were best buddies! If he was in the garden, I was right there with him. Fixing the cars, there. He made the BEST pancakes! Two things specifically stand out though. Every morning, my Grandkad went out for a cup of coffee at the Black Angus, a little local cafe. I loved it when I could go with him. Coffee for him and hot chocolate for me. He would give me the money to "pay" for our order. I thought I was so grown! As I got older and in 4th grade, we started having to dress out for P.E. I discovered that I didn't like it too much, so all I had to do was bat my eyelashes and Grandkad would write a note for me to get out of it. It was perfect as far as I was concerned! I must have been the sickest kid in school because I NEVER did P.E.! My mom never found out until after he died. She found a note that he had saved and asked me about it. She couldn't believe that I got him to do that! Sadly, he died within the next few years. My sisters and cousins never really got to know him as I did. They missed out on a great man...and not just because he was such a softy!
I think the book looks great and I think that it's important to know your grandparents. I never really knew mine except for two weeks each year when they came to visit us in Guatemala or on furlough. However, the past three years were the hardest and best of my life with my mom's mom. I will never forget these three years. I moved in with my grandmother when dementia started. She needed a caretaker. It started simple, cooking and driving her places. Then it increased to bathing her and changing diapers. Before her memory was totally gone she shared childhood memories. As it got worse, I became the one she accused of everything missing but was also the one that she wanted if she was scared. My relationship was no longer grandmother and granddaughter but mother child, friend, confidant, cook, chaufer, and comforter. I never knew her much before but although these three years were hard, I wouldn't give that moment up with MaMa for anything. She's now in Hospice through an alzeihmer's home. My son and I are the only ones she still responds to. Last week, before I left she said, "I love you baby girl." I'm named after her and she's always called me that. Somewhere in there, she remembered me. I'll never forget that. I love her and will miss her.
We always would go to my grandma's house on Sunday for lunch. After my parents divorce I spent alot of time with them. My grandma was very special to me, she was always there for me. They had a strawberry patch, blackberries, blueberries and peach trees. She would cut up the peaches and put them in milk for me. When I eat a peach, she is what I think about. I would curl up on her lap to watch tv and would always rub my fingers over the protruding veins on her hands. Now that I am getting my own, I think about those times often. She always made me feel secure and always told me how much my mom loved me (We lived with my dad). She was very wise and I always asked her opinion. The last memory I had of her was holding my firstborn over her shoulder (I still cry thinking about that moment). I have no doubt that she is with Jesus right now!
"My Granny and the Hen House".
My Grandmother use to raise chickens, she had a chicken house that held about 200 hens,and a couple tired roosters.
One afternoon she came home to find out that someone had left, or had opened the door to the hen house. She was furious, to say the least. Chickens were every where. They had gotten into her strawberry patch and consumed about 2/3 of her berries. Need-less to say she was putting up fryers in the freezer, and canning them for days. After she had gotten caught up on her chicken round-up, she invited my sister Bev and I to spend a week with her and Gandpa.
Beverly and I had been at Granny's for a few days, we had explored every inch of the barn, and the chicken coop Being children we were getting bored and as the result also getting on Granny's nerves. Of course she would never tell us that we were. Granny always told us "if you don't have anything nice to say, smile and keep your lips from flapping".
Patient,and Granny Bratlett are under the same definition in the dictionary. That was a little tibbit.
Granny decided that we needed a project to keep us amused and intertained, she never was wrong, Grandpa told us that on more than one occassion.
Her plan, and I might add was a good one, was to let us have the old chicken coop for a play house.
WOW, a place of our own to play in. "Thrilled to the highest power" is how my sister discribed it.
We couldn't wait to contact our other cousins to come over and help get the coop, spic and span.
We scrubbed the floors, walls and of course the nesting boxes.
While we cleaned, Granny went inside and made curtains for the windows. Grandpa made window boxes so we could plant flowers. We planted marigolds, by mid summer, yellow, red and rust marigolds graced the box with vibrant color. Gtrandpa was right proud of his crafty work in the making of the window boxes. Granny said "that he was so puffed up,he looked like an old rooster, getting ready to crow."
Gandpa,found weeks later in his travels an old couch, and a table and chair set that someone dicarted out at the end of a driveway. So he totetd
it home, so that we could use it in our play house.
It may have been someones else's junk, but to us it was a WONDERFUL Treasure.
Granny went through the attic and brought down an old victrola for music. WE sang and danced to the old records that she had. Such grand times we had in that old chicken coop.
Granny made that summer special for all of us. She knew how to make everything in life special.
We are all given gifts "talents" in life, Hers was to make every one around her happy, fill them with LOVE and care deeply for their well being.
Granny and Grandpa are no longer with us in person, but their memories are still bright in my mind.
God has given each one of us a past, and I hope they are filled with wonderful memories. Mine are filled with memories of Granny and Grandpa Bartlett.
I am not good at writing blogs or the nice stories that everyone writes about their families. Here is my shot…. My Mama was my mother’s mother and really the only grandparent I knew. My dad’s mom died when I was young and I really don’t remember her.
My Mama was the most amazing women to me. I am often flattered when people tell me I am a Vaughn that I am just like her. My mother named me after her and I named Tucker after me. That is a compliment that I truly want to live up to. I loved her more than any fancy words can ever tell. My Mama was the most amazing women and everyone loved her. She was just plain, pretty much what you see is what you get. I can’t think of one story that just stands out in my mind that just really touches my heart because they all did. I know that she loved EVERYONE that she met, she never met a stranger. If there was someone in my life that I really wanted to be like it would be her. She did for others before she even would think about doing for herself. Faithful was her name, she was an excellent mother, wife and a hard worker. She loved her family more than anything. She would always cook for us, good cooking too. I would do anything to know how to make her biscuits. It’s only one thing that I really miss from her. The thing I miss the most is how she loved me. When I found out I was pregnant with Tucker I prayed hoping that not only God would hear me but I prayed that I would have her wisdom and her love and determination to deal with whatever was given to me. When Tyson and I were little she picked us up from school. I can still see her silver car in my head on the top of the hill at Duncan Elementary. The one thing I could always count on is she would have my favorites goodies at her house. Although she struggled most of her life she was always happy she was truly happy with what God gave her.
When I was in high school the signs of Alzheimer’s set in and for 7 years she has no idea who we were or where she was. The thing that did leave her is her love and her humor, although some I think she would have died if she knew what she said.
I know that I would not be me with out her in my life…
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