Happy Birthday Grunt!!

Today is my Grandma Fretia’s birthday.   She would have been 91 years old.  I still can’t believe how much I miss her, every single day.  If you were blessed to know her, you would know that she was a truly amazing woman.  So in honor of this incredible, talented, awesome woman, I’d like to share some memories.

I can’t remember a time when my Grandma didn’t take me camping. 

Sometimes it would just be Clayton Lake; other times it would be Cimarron Canyon.  Usually my brother Brent was with us and most often Kenny.  I know my parents went some times too, but not always.  As I think back now, I wonder if she didn’t take us to the lake to give them a break!  I remember her washing dishes with that smelly old green Palmolive dish soap and boiling water!!!  She and I usually had to share a bed, and I have always been a restless sleeper.  So I would be tossing and turning, trying to get to sleep, and she’d finally say in frustration, “Dammit Kelly Jo!  I’m going to get up and smoke a cigarette until you can get to sleep!”  I remember taking cold baths in the stream and sitting by the fire at night.  And then when I was older, I remember she would stop by a liquor store in Clayton and get a bottle of Boons Farm Strawberry Hill and let Brent and me have a glass!  And she would always say, “But we don’t need to tell your Dad!” 

I also remember that my Grandma was just always with us.  She went on all our vacations with us, to California or Yellowstone.  And when we all took our very first cruise, in 1985, she was with us.  I think we must have all gotten our love of traveling from her.  In the 70’s, she led tour groups in the Middle East.  She was such an open, friendly person.  She never met a stranger.  And she stayed friends with many of the people she met. 

She used to take my friends and me skiing in the winter, to Red River.  One year, the weather was kind of getting bad, and so we were trying to get out of town before my Dad shut down our trip.  We made it to the west side of Boise City, and while I was trying to pass a farm truck, my 1976 Ford Thunderbird spun out of control, slamming into a ditch, packing us into the snow drift.  We hadn’t been traveling very fast, so no one was hurt, but man we were shaken.  After our heart beats returned to normal, a friend pulled us out, and as we were about to get back on the road, Grandma quietly said, “Now we don’t need to tell your Dad about that!” 

Grandma Fretia was also the very first independent business woman that I ever knew.  You see, she divorced when it was NOT a common thing, and she used the amazing talent the Lord gave her as an artist to support herself.  She taught oil painting in a room in her home, at one time having as many as 60 students a week taking lessons.  She taught us all to see the beauty in everything, to see the subtle changes in the colors of a sunset, to look at nature with a sense of awe.  My Uncle Terry turned this love into photography and takes amazing pictures.  We all have pictures that she has painted hanging in our homes, as do many of her students.  She was able to support herself, always remaining independent.  I remember she used to talk about how she would want to be alone at the end of the week.  As a young girl, I thought this was the silliest thing I ever heard.  NOW I completely understand!!  She loved her students so much, but she also loved the sanctuary of her home.

And OH, her home!  There was probably not a square foot of wall space in her entire home that wasn’t covered!  She had paintings and pictures and things she had accumulated from her travels.  And later in life, she had hundreds and hundreds of movies!  She loved to watch mysteries and Westerns and Sam Elliott!  And if she found a movie (like “Last of the Dogmen”) she would watch it over and over.  We didn’t often watch TV with her though because the volume was so loud you could hear it from the driveway!

She was such an awesome Great-Grandma to my daughter Bethany.  She thought that Bethany was the funniest thing ever.  She would often pick her up (at age 2 and 3) and take her to The Cove for coffee!  I am so sorry that McKenna didn’t get to know her, and my husband Barre’. 

I also remember going to church with my Grandma.  At times when my parents didn’t go to church, my Grandma would take me.  We would sit at “our” spot in the back, ready to make our getaway at noon!   I am so very glad to know that she had accepted Christ because I very much want to see her again. 

As I sit here remembering Grunt (that’s short for Granny Grunt, by the way!), I realize I could write all day long about the wonderful memories I have of her and how she shaped who I am today.  Tears fill my eyes as I write because I miss her so much.  But she loved us all well, and we loved her well, too.  I know that I will continue to miss her and I will continue to love her, until we meet again . . . .