Marianna Marshall

My grandmother, Marianna, passed away last Thursday. She was my dad's mother, and she would have been 90 this year. The Pittsburgh Tribune wrote a really nice article about her. You can read it here.

I have many wonderful memories of her and my grandfather (who passed in 2000) and time spent in their house. The smell of their house, and particularly the basement, was one of my favorite smells in the whole world. (It was just like those studies they talk about, how scent is tied to memory, any time I am around a similar smell I feel like I'm back in their home.) My grandma made the best chicken noodle soup, and always had Klondike bars in the freezer. And these tangy little cherry flavored hard candies in the candy jar. And tiny little soap bars with pretty pictures on them in a glass container in the bathroom. And there was a red and yellow checkerboard kind of painting on the ceiling in the attic. I remember my grandpa's work area in the basement, he was a master of wood and metal crafts. I still have some toy blocks he made for me, as well as a neat steppy-stool, and a beautiful table.

I have a very interesting tie with my grandparents. The day that my grandfather died is the same day I became a Christian, and my grandmother passed on the 3rd anniversary of my baptism. Even though I have experienced most of my Christian growth as an adult, it's still neat to me that God has chosen to coincide these dates. So now I have fond memories of my grandparents, and reminders of God's good blessings to me all wrapped up together. And those are just wonderfully sweet things to think about!