Inheritance of stories

Being that my Grandma died, we also visited my remaining Grandma while we were in Michigan.

She actually cried and hugged my mom and apologized for spending "all the money."
And frankly, other than a specific inheritance that Mom was supposed to get from great-grandma, we don't actually care that Grandma blew through her 3 million dollar inheritance.

Not our money.

On the other hand, with three mil, you'd think she'd have passed along the 50 grand that Mom was supposed to get... but that's Grandma. Grandma K is... er... crazy.

So when she wept on my mom and apologized for spending the money, Mom said, "Grandma, we don't care about the money. It was your money."
I said, "Yeah, all you owe us is stories."

Grandma looked at me oddly and said, "Well, my brain doesn't work as well as it used to."

I said that I didn't care, that I wanted to know any stories that I didn't already know.

As a result, I got to hear about her trip to Egypt. I got to talk to her about New Orleans. I got her to tell stories about other trips and experiences that she had. I got her talking about her dogs. (she used to have dogs.)

Any time that she got maudlin, or started to whine about something (which drives my aunt NUTS) I just asked her for another story.

I have *grandchild powers*.
Grandma is a master manipulator, but she's past her prime. I inherited this trait from her, and I am her darling granddaughter to boot.
Mwa ha ha.

Fear not, True Believers; I only use my powers for good.

So no, there's not any money. So what?

My Silly Grandma who passed was a collector. Her daughter said that she was a "hoarder." But she wasn't a pack rat; she was a magpie.
She loved sheep, because of Psalm 23. (The Lord is my shepherd, etc.) She surrounded herself with lambs and sheep as a reminder that "we're all just dumb sheep." When she'd feel down about things that went wrong in her life, she'd remember that she was just a dumb sheep like the rest of us, and that she had to trust her shepherd to get her where she was supposed to go.
Between my Silly Grandpa's extended illness and her developing macular degeneration after he died, I think those sheep were really important.

I have a few of them now.

She was also a hat lady. Her daughter (my mom's stepsister) said that she didn't know what she'd do with all those hats.
I shyly said, "Uh, I'd like a few of them, if you don't mind..."

I got the hat made from garbage bags. I got one of the purple hats. I snagged a vintage styled hat in cream that I shared with Roommate 2.

I'm also going to make a journey back up there soon to deliver some mannequins. My step-aunt helps run the Farm Museum in Coopersville and they could use them. I figure that if the museum is willing to long-term store them for me, they can get some use out of them. I don't have a specific purpose for them at the moment, so I'd love for them to get some use for the time being.

I can take home some furniture I'm supposed to have at that point, too. Grandma K gave me a "Breakfront" which has been stored by other relatives, and I suspect that some of Silly Grandma's furniture might wind up in my possession, too.

I even offered to help my step-aunt go through some of the things and help her haul stuff to the thrift stores for her.

That might happen as early as next week.