Grandma Searle

I love this lady. She is awesome. She is my father's mother. My Grandmother. I love spending time with Gram. She always makes me smile.

One of the memories I have of Gram is when I was about 12 years old, and I spent the night at her house. Mom and Dad had split up by then, so I spent a lot of time with Gram. I had bronchitis or something like it, and had a high fever. Gram, being Gram, tucked me into bed, put a glass of orange juice on the nightstand and kept a watchful eye on me. I fell asleep. In the middle of the night, I woke up and to my embarassment, thought I had wet the bed. I started crying and Gram heard me. She came in, told me to go into the bathroom and change my nightgown. I did as I was told, with a heavy heart. I was so embarassed! As I came back down the hallway, Gram turned around, looked at me, stuck her hand on the bed, then proceded to smell her hand...EWWW! I just stopped, and was ready for whatever she was going to dole out...She said, come here. I did, dragging my feet. She said that there was no way I had wet the bed, because it didn't smell like pee. She went on to tell me that my fever had broke, and the dampness on the bed was because I had been so sweaty. Boy, did I feel better. She then tucked me back into bed and told me, "Now go to sleep!" I don't know why I remember this so vividly. But, it just goes to show how caring and thoughtful she can be. I mean, who else would stick their hand in a bed that you thought had been pee'd in? My Grandma, that's who.

Gram took all of us, one at a time, on vacations during the summer. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world the summer Gram took me to Georgia to see Great Lizzie, who was Gram's step-mother. What a trip we had. Gram made sure that the motel we stayed at had a pool. so I could go swimming after a long hot day in the car. There was no air-conditioning in her car. Just the old roll down windows. We took her green station wagon, if I am remembering correctly. She had packed a cooler with sandwiches, potato chips and Pepsi. We ate at rest stops along the way and went out to a restaurant at night. Great Lizzie was standing in the driveway waiting for us when we pulled up. Gram had the biggest smile on her face when she saw that Lizzie was waiting for us. We stayed there almost a week. We got to go to the Laser show at Stone Mountain. It was the best thing I had ever seen. I sat there in awe. I remember looking over at Gram and she was just as much in awe as I was! We had a great time. The trip home was just as good as the trip there.

Gram has 5 kids. Bradley, Keith, Dawn, Larry and Eileen. Bradley is the father of Kandi and Chris. Keith is the father of Julie, Jay, Joanna, Jennie and Adam. Dawn is the mother of Bill and Jeff. Her great grandkids are as follows: Jay has Rebecca(11) and Keith(6). Chris has Brooklyn and Dillon(2 months), who are twins. Joanna has Kaylie(17), Jayson(14) and Kevin(12).

I see a lot of Gram in all of us Searle's. We are a stubborn lot. Yet, none of us knows where it came from! She is an amazing lady. Her career path was first and foremost, a mother and a farmer's wife. She also drove school bus, and from what I understand, she ruled her bus with an iron hand. Not surprising! She is an awesome lady, full of spunk and spirit. I am proud to say she is my Grandmother.