Grandma Denise Lopez

This week the world lost a truly amazing woman; Denise Lopez.  Denise was many things to many people; a mother, a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a friend, a neighbor, a special mother-in-law to me and best of all, a Grandmother.  I say best of all because I never saw Denise happier than when she was around her granddaughters; Amaya, Jessica, Jacklyn and my daughter Aubrey; Grandma’s girl.  I think being a Grandma to these girls was one of her most favorite things in life; they always brought her joy and often times in her last month’s here with us, I would see her the way I knew her years ago when she was with the girls.  She loved them.

My daughter Aubrey is only 19 months old and it saddens me that she will never truly get to know her sweet and wonderful Grandma Denise.  Even at such a young age, Aubrey and her Grandma shared a special bond and even had their own inside jokes that none of us could understand.  Aubrey loved to kiss her Grandma on the knee, they would raise their hands together, watch court TV, share chicken nuggets, frosties and many other things.  While I know Aubrey will not remember these special things when she gets older, I want to make sure that she knows the memory of her Grandma Denise and what a wonderful Grandmother she was to her from the time she knew Aubrey was in my tummy until the day she left this world and began her new journey.

I write this blog so that one day Aubrey, or any other children my husband and I may have in the future, can look back and have a story of their lives.  I want them to be able to see this post and know something about the person their Grandma Denise was.  So here are some of the things I loved about Grandma Denise.

• She loved her grandkids with all her heart.  She cherished and treasured all of them.  Her walls at home are covered with their pictures.  She shared a special bond with all of them and them with her.
• She made sure her grand babies always had a wonderful Christmas filled with tons of gifts.  It always made me laugh because she insisted on celebrating Christmas one week early so that none of us kids would have to worry about picking and choosing where to go for Christmas; it was sweet.  This past year we actually celebrated Christmas at her house on December 15th and then the very next day we celebrated Aubrey’s 1st birthday; our house was swarmed with toys and clothes everywhere!  It makes me laugh and smile thinking of it.  Grandma Denise always made sure the girls had an equal number of presents to open and they were all color coded; red presents for one, green presents for the other and so on and so forth.  The girls would separate the presents out between themselves and once they had the mountain of gifts piled high they could dig in!  HOWEVER, the rule was that you could only open one gift at a time and then you had to throw your trash away and put the gift in your giant bag.  It was always hilarious to watch the girls be tortured by this process but it was actually brilliant on Grandma Denise’s part!  It extended the awesome fun of opening all the gifts for the girls AND it saved all of us adults from literally being buried in wrapping paper with no escape!
• She made the most delicious no bake cookies for all of us kids every year!  They were amazing!  We all loved “The Green Ones” and would try to find which cookie tin they were in before anyone else could get to them!  I guess it’s safe to reveal my secret now, but if I found a tin of them, I would hide them until the end of the party and then take them home on my to-go plate!  I think Aubrey would have loved them and I am going to make it a point to try and make them every year although I know they will never be as good.
• She loved the Dollar Store.    And if you went with her, you got something!  It always made me laugh because she prided herself on shopping at the Dollar Store and sharing all the great deals she got there!  I think I like, appreciate and shop at the Dollar Store more today because of Denise.  Oh and Aubrey always gets something when she goes with me too.
• She loved her puppies; especially her Kobe.  I think Aubrey loves the puppies at her Grandma’s house and at our house because she saw every day the way her Grandma and Papa loved on them.
• Grandma Denise (and of course Papa) would watch the girls without hesitation all the time.  Justin and I were so lucky because Grandma Denise and Papa watched Aubrey four days a week for us while we went to work.  Aubrey has grown to love going over there.  She knows their house immediately when we pull up and starts to get excited saying, “I want that.  I want that.  I want that.” And pointing at the house.

Today we celebrated Grandma Denise’s life and many people showed up to share their memories with the family.  Denise was a special person that touched more lives than any of us had ever realized.  She will be dearly missed but we all take comfort in knowing that she is no longer in pain but now resting in peace.  We will carry her memory.