For several reasons today's post is about my maternal grandma.  One of the main reasons is that life changes as you age, gracefully, of course.  

I grew up on a 200 acre farm where my mom was raised along with her two older sisters.  My mom was born in the room we called the TV room.  It was grandma and grandpa's bedroom at the time.  The farm has been owned by a member of my mother's family for over 120 years.  

Life changes with time and it appears quite likely that my mom and her sisters will be selling the farm in the near future (3 to 5 years).  Today would have also been my maternal grandfather's 100th birthday (March 11th, 1909).

Loosely related is the fact the my parents divorce was final yesterday, 43 years!  So, life as you know it doesn't stay the same.  

Because I so dearly loved my grandma and I miss her everyday, here's is a piece of her wisdom   I shared at her funeral.

Grandma always carried a silver dollar in her wallet.  It was from the year she graduated high school.  I remember her dumping her change out on the counter at the grocery store and the silver dollar rolling across the counter.  Many times the sales clerk would pick it up and admire it.  Sometimes she would let me carry it as we walked back to the car.  Poor grandma, I must have asked her a thousand questions about it as we walked across the parking lot.

The best that I can remember is that I was home from college one weekend and was visiting with her.  She lived right next to the farm house in a mobile home.  I must have been complaining  about life in general including being broke.  It's important to know that complaining was generally not accepted in Grandma's world.  So if you started she'd casually change the subject, but on this day she let me go on.

When I finished grandma went on to say that when she meant grandpa he carried a silver dollar in his wallet for good luck and so he was never broke.  Grandma said that she could remember times when he had to use the silver dollar to buy gas, always telling the clerk he'd be back the next day for it.  So, when they married grandma thought that she should carry a silver dollar too.

Next, grandma grew quiet.  She laid her bent, crooked finger on her chin.  She would do that when she was thinking.  After several minutes, grandma told me that she put Russell's silver dollar in his lapel pocket when she saw him at the funeral home.  She felt it was important that he have is good luck charm.  And just that quick grandma's expression changed and she sent me after her safety deposit box.  

That day grandma gave me a silver dollar for good luck and to be sure that I was never broke again.  

After we lost her the first thing I needed to do was find her silver dollar.  I went immediately to her wallet and dumped out the change.  There it was . . . her good luck charm.   During my final moments with her I placed her silver dollar in her hands.  Forever and always we will never be broke.