Grandma Henke

Dear Sherry,

I sat in the car looking at this beautiful view of the ocean last week while baby Kai napped and the rest of the group went for a tour of a light house.   It gave me a quiet moment to think of you, my dear friend for the past 30 years.   I wanted to write it sooner but I just haven’t been able to say goodbye.    It’s been two weeks now since Lyman called to tell me you were gone.   It’s still hard for me to believe … and accept.    Oh how I will miss you.

Here are some of the things I will remember …

Cramming our eleven children into our Volkswagon bus for a trip from Ivins to Salt Lake to visit their grandmothers.    The children were so noisy we had to yell at each other to be heard and by the time we got to our destination we were hoarse.    We stopped in Fillmore to let the children run around on the grass at the park and as they got back in the bus we counted them.   There were twelve instead of eleven!    We counted heads a couple of times until we remembered my nephew Cameron was with us … then we laughed until we had side aches and tears running down our cheeks.  

We worked so hard organizing thirty children into a performing singing group … The Music Makers!    We did it before it was the popular thing to do.   You and Phyllis made a gillion gingham shirts and dresses and I taught the children to sing and dance.    They performed all over town and even at the county fair.    Sixteen of those children belonged to you, Phyllis, and me … The Three Amigos!

Going for late night rides with you and Phyllis after all the children were in bed to get a Big Gulp and then sit outside in the car talking until 2 or 3 in the morning.   

I remember the month it was our turn to have all the kids while you and Lyman had a quiet weekend and we had a thunderstorm and ended up with all eleven children in our king sized bed.   The big boys swear they didn’t join the rest of us … but they did … if only because they didn’t want to miss out on the fun.

And of course I will always remember when we Three Amigos decided to have our jaws wired shut to lose weight.   It cost us $100 each and we saved a long time to get the money.  On our way home we stopped at the store and bought wire cutters because we were all in a panic that we’d choke and wanted them handy.   After that we stopped at Charlie’s and got shakes to see if we could sip them through straws.   We almost sucked our teeth out but we managed to taste the shakes.    Later that night you and Phyllis came to visit me and we laughed and laughed and laughed … with our teeth clenched together … because Phyllis couldn’t get the operator on the phone to understand “Whitwer” … Finally she spelled it … ” W H I T W E R  … Whitwer!”      It’s really hard to laugh that hard without opening your mouth.     I think we all regretted that decision and I would NOT recommend it to anyone!

We celebrated so many holidays together.    Christmas, Easter, the 4th and 24th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving.   

We faithfully exercised early mornings in the gym of the church with the ladies in the ward.    

One of my favorite memories is when we watched “Carrie” at our house late one night.    We were sitting on the floor in front of our small television and somehow Lynn slipped out the back door and sneaked around to the front door and barged in yelling.    You, Lyman, and I all screamed and jumped about 4 feet … but what was hilarious about it was that Lyman screamed the loudest!    It made you and I laugh so hard we almost wet our pants.      Lyman got me back a few nights later when he hid in the back seat of my car with ketchup on his hand and reached up behind me in the dark.   I may have really wet my pants that time!

We’ve laughed together, worked together, played together, sang together,  traveled together, tended together, tended each other’s children many times, cried together, shopped together, practiced together, performed together, worshipped together, eaten together, and talked about every topic in the universe.      I didn’t think we would be done so soon … and it is so hard to let you go.

Then there were our 2 hour phone conversations late at night … it’s been a while since we talked that long … but we used to!    Some of our phone calls lately have been when I dialed the wrong number and got you instead of my sister in law.   Don’t ask me why I got those numbers mixed up so much after 30 years but I’m glad I did!    I can’t tell you how much I will miss those phone calls.

I’m so grateful that I know where you are and that I will see you again and that good friendships like ours are forever.    ‘Til we meet again … I love you dear friend.