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(Oma) Sigrid Teichmann ~ March 31, 1929 - February 24, 2010

This picture was taken September 26, 2001 - the last time I was in Germany. I have fond memories from that trip, and a great scrapbook to match. I worked on the scrapbook throughout the whole trip - I’m lucky to have it now.
My grandmother was an amazing woman. From sewing our stuffed animals’ wear and tear, and trying her best to learn any English she could… she managed to sing “Happy Birthday” to us- but it always sounded more like “Heppy Burst-dee.” Still, it was pretty good for someone with no formal training. As kids, when we visited her in Germany, she would put a hot water bottle in our beds to warm the sheets before we got into bed!
And forget having hiccups - she would make us hold onto her pinky finger, and she would hold onto ours… she would tell us to hold our breath, and she would stare so hard into our eyes, promising the hiccups would “jump” from us to her. I’m not sure if that ever really worked … but she would always pretend that she suddenly had the hiccups, too.
She always had everything put together - the house was always spotless, and she even went as far as to iron tablecloths, jeans and nightgowns. She always had breakfast, lunch and dinner ready and on the table before we entered the kitchen - whether it was fresh-baked pastries or bread from the bakery, or a home-cooked hot meal, it was always thought of and prepared hours before the next meal. Her potato soup was the greatest - I remember asking her one time if she would share the recipe with me… boy, was I shocked to find out that it came as a powder in an envelope and just needed water added! This turned out to be good, though, because I was able to take some home with me and make it on my own.
Even though my German leaves a lot to be desired, throughout my college years, we sent letters back and forth to each other. She was always interested in what I was doing. I’m sure she had fun trying to decipher my horrible spelling and grammar - she never mentioned it, though… and her letters always came to me with a $20 bill inside.
She had been in the nursing home for over 6 years, and had not been doing so well for at least the past 3 years. I know she is better off now. Still, it is strange to think that she’s not there anymore. My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to my mom and my family.
Like I said, she was awesome… and I am so happy to have wonderful memories of my life with her.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 28th, 2010 at 11:14 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.