Olga Diane Strid

As I look through old pictures and think back through the years, I've been flooded with so many memories. 

• The time that she started bawling because Samuel and I broke out in fits of laughter while Spencer was saying his evening prayer and she didn't hear what he said

• Visiting her and having to step over this giant sheet of plexiglass that she'd put up as a barrier because she didn't want the neighborhood cats to spray her door

• Playing Skip-bo and Dominoes at her kitchen table. And, her formal dining room with the perfectly set dining table that was never used (to my knowledge)

• Picking oranges and tangerines in her backyard and her so proudly pointing out all of her lovely plants 

• How she was always "so, so, so cold" and would shove cotton balls into her ears to protect them from the wind

• Whenever she ate she would mix everything on her plate together and laughingly say that it all went to the same place anyway so no use in keeping it separate

• Her love of McDonald's coffee, which I'm pretty sure was more hot water than actual coffee

• How much she loved to eat fruit, even though she always had a horrible stomach ache.

• Her drawers of costume jewelry. I used to love looking through them with her and would often gush at how beautiful they were in hopes that she would give me a piece. She often did. 

• Her fancy bedroom with the hanging lamp and the huge water bed. Sleeping in her water bed waiting for our parents to pick us up when she and Grandpa were babysitting. 

• The lemon sandwich cookies that she'd always have in a large Tupperware in her pantry 

• How she loved the smell of fresh laundry and would always hang her clothes out to dry 

• Her love of singing every verse of every holiday song (ones that I didn't even know existed) and then singing them in German 

• Making Zwiebacks and then her taking over the kneading to make sure that the dough was correctly mixed

• Her saying, "SARAH ANN!" whenever she was excited, or pretend scolding me, or actually scolding me 

She was hilarious, quirky, and loving...small but mighty. She'll be missed dearly. 

I love you, Grandma. 

When Aunt Olga would see my husband Earl She would say here’s Willie an mention she loved that he was her height.

I am wondering what heaven is like, but now Mom knows. “For now we only see a poor reflection, as in a mirror, for then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.”