Meet my favorite person. (I think the world should know her, too.)
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My grandmother Irene, who my sister and I called “grandrenie” because we couldn’t say grandmother Irene, was an amazing person. In fact, she was the most amazing person I have ever known. It seemed like she could do anything she set her mind to doing. She grew up as a cowgirl in Deadwood, South Dakota. (Yes, the same Deadwood that’s depicted in the HBO show.) She grew up to become a Red Cross nurse and she served during World War II. Studying nursing was her ticket out of Deadwood. She traveled to D.C. to pursue nursing; she never came back. She didn’t have any money, so each week she would load her laundry onto a train back home. Her her mom would do. it and then ship it back That always made me laugh!
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During her time in D.C., she met my grandfather, who was born and raised in Virginia. He was a soldier, but she was older than him and at the time, that seemed so scandalous. Needless to say, they fell in love anyway and got married and the rest is history.

She was pure magic. She could play the piano; she could bake anything; she could built a fort; she could host a perfect tea party. She never missed a birthday and she always answered the door with hugs. She had a stroke when I was a teenager and never quite went back to herself, then she passed when I was in college.

To this day, we talk about her and tell stories about her when we all gather for Christmas. ~shared by @emway