My Upbringing By Two Grandmas, A Blessing

I was essentially raised by two sets of grandparents that were polar opposites. It was a total blessing that I was raised by both. Well, yes, my parents too but I for sure remember my grandparent's way of discipline a little more clear than my parents for some reason. Perhaps it is because every summer until my teens I spent at least a month with Grandma Whittle in OKC. Grandma Zanek had me almost every weekend during the school year and summer when I was not in OKC until I was in my teens. I feel the strong pull this morning to talk about my upbringing. So here it goes. Grandma Zanek was sort of an iron fist but out of love. She managed to keep me on my toes without running me off. She managed to get me back on a horse after being drug so many times that the sheer thought of sitting on a saddle made me cry. I was in elementary school. I loved loved loved horses but was terrified to sit on one. Like I said, after the mean little pony "Princess" broke MY SPIRIT. SO every weekend at the ranch I would catch Checa and halter her. She was all of 25-35.....and I would drag that mare all over the place. Literally. 485 acres of "place" that I would hand walk that patient mare. She is one of two mares that I ever really loved but that is a different story for a different time. Grandma never pushed me to get back on. She just waited. It seems like years but was probably only a few months before I was sneaking off in the woods with Checa and finding a stump to stand on and get on her. We would ride for hours through the woods and I would get off before heading back to the house. Never thinking about my fuzzy rear end.......and the marks on the mare's back.....I did this thinking I was fooling my Grandma Zanek into thinking that I was still afraid. But I wanted to prove to her that I wasnt...when the time was right. I did not want to disappoint. She also did not want me riding Checa because it was her horse so she told me time and time again that I needed to bond with Brandy.....Anyhow, she knew. She knew all along. But she still acted shocked when I got on Checa in the pasture and rode up to the house :-) Grandma told my mom that it was about time I came to my senses!!! Anyhow, that was Grandma Zanek. She managed to talk my parents into riding lessons, english first....to get my balance and what not. Then I was made to ride Brandy. The mare NO ONE wanted to ride. Guess what? I LOVED Brandy!!! I switched her from a grazing bit to a long shank snaffle and that mare loved me back :-) we rode countless hours bareback through the woods and down by the river. Yes, I said down by the river! From that point on, Brandy was MY horse. Well until I got TJ. Then TJ and Brandy where my horses. Grandma told me she knew we would work because we were both stubborn. She taught me to sit up straight, stand up for myself, not to let the world determine my fate, trust no one but believe the good in everyone and that there is no shame in getting my hands (shirts, boots, jeans) dirty. Getting your hands dirty was the best way to live!!! Even though Grandma Zanek lived in a big fancy house in downtown Houston, her heart was always in the country. She passed in 1998. She told me I would never like living in East Texas. She told me I was never going to settle for "that boy" that I dated in high school and she said she knew I was going to be awesome at something as soon as I figured out what it was. She visited me in my dreams a lot until the last time when I was pregnant with Kolton. I thought, I knew, I was having a girl....yeah, no. Grandma came to me in a dream and said that I was being silly. Of course I am having a BOY. And he will be a boy just like me. Rough, tuff, but with a heart of gold and love of horses. She also told me how proud she was of me for going to aTm and finding Jeff, the love of my life, and finally getting out of EAST Texas :-) That was such a memorable dream for me. I havent seen her since but I know she is waiting for me to need her again. Grandma Whittle was my city girl grandma. She passed yesterday. 3/9/13. She was 90? Anyhow, I spent every summer with her until I was 12/13. She loved to give me pedicures and manicures always telling me how pretty my nails were...and as soon as I got home I would cut them off lol. I wore sundresses and shorts at Grandma Whittle's house! I did not play in the dirt. We went to the zoo, the park, aerobics, the race track, lazy e arena to watch the summer Olympic equestrian trials (that was soooo cool!), the science museum with all the technology centers, arbuckle wilderness, some random OKC history markers etc. She wanted to make sure I had culture. She taught me to be lady like. She taught me to respect my elders (G.Z. did too) and to enjoy the past as much as the future. She told me a lot about Mom and how she was raised. We went to church on Sundays. Grandma Whittle was my city lovin' grandma. I loved watching her get her hair done! We always went clothes shopping. She loved to spoil me and I just loved to be there with her and grandpa! Oh and Maggie too! The little Schnauzer that was their baby. I was raised with big dogs so Maggie was a treat to be around for a month! A sweet little lap dog! She taught me how to plant a garden even though everything I plant now dies. I never did get a green thumb! I think grandma was trying to work the tomboy out of me but I never did change for her. I know she loved me and I loved her too. I also know that I frustrated her being the tomboy in the family! She really worked hard to show me everything she could about being a lady and I will never forget that. She will always be in my heart and she will always be the voice in the back of my head telling me that I need to file my nails vs cut them because they are so strong and pretty and have pretty half moons (yes, she was obsessed with my nails lol). Even though she had demensia and did not remember me in her last years, I know in my heart that she is smiling down on me right now. Proud that my nails are filed, I am wearing make up and a little bling :-). She never got to meet Kolton but she did get to meet Jeff and she is/was ever so proud of my prince! She was grinning from ear to ear when she met him the first time. She met him several times...always forgetting, God Bless Her, but he always was happy to reintroduce himself. I think she was proud of me. I hope she was. Rest in Peace Grandma Whittle! I know you are up there in Heaven with Uncle Ray, and Grandpa now. Tell them I send my love! Rest In Peace.