COLUMBIANA COUNTY OHIO - BIO: Grandma Told Me (GRIMM & SIMS)
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by
Brenda Lee Daniels
normandyboxers@coastalnet.com
http://members.xoom.com/angelwings/grandmasaid.htm
March 16, 1999
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This was written by me, very quickly, in 1995 specifically for this site at
Angelwings.   I would like it to go somewhere on the pages of Maggie, but 
do not know where it should go. Maybe just on the Columbiana list, but it 
could need a special place, since I am not done, and will have more
in the future. I will continue to compile things as they come to me.
This is something I have wanted to do since they said I was terminally ill,
and I started with this one. I tried to compile some parts of my very
complex life, for a book, but it left with the other computer. I wish I 
had a picture, but only in my heart. If ever I run across one I will see 
to it that you have it.  My grandmother was Myrtle Bell Grimm, married to 
George A. Sims.

Thank you for all your love and kindness.

Brenda Lee Daniels
 Grandma Told Me


 I descend from very religious grandparents. My parents were not so
religious until I grew older. My grandfather was a preacher, but of what
denomination I am not certain. As a child I always said, " I know something
is going to happen and I can't stop it!" My mother said I was crazy. I do
not think I was crazy. It always happened. I said my cousin would come home
with glass in his forehead from the windshield after being involved in an
auto accident. It happened. Just as I said it would.

            In 1968, my father was very ill. The doctor came to our house.
There was much confusion. I knew not to mention anything to
            my mother by this time. I went to bed and my worst fear was
realized. Standing at the foot of my bed was my grandmother who died in
1962.
            I had not been allowed to attend her funeral, so I had no idea
            how she had been dressed. She was standing there, with a little
lace handkerchief and a scent of lilac, which was her favorite as it is
mine. She was simply crying, I did not know why, she did
            not speak. I had a terrible feeling my daddy was sick and would
die. I came home from school as my daddy was being hauled bodily from a
ditch outside our home where he had been installing water lines. In spite of
the strength I always knew him to have, I knew this was it. When they said
he had, maybe, 1 hour to live, I could have died with him. They had to
administer some sort of treatment before they could begin to operate. He had
peritonitis caused by a seeping appendix. I was told this would cause his
internal organs to crumble. I prayed to God to spare my daddy, and thanked
him for his message sent by grandma everyday until he came home from the
hospital, then it changed to "thank you for everything."


            Grandma came to me again on the eve of my grandpa's death. She
gave me the same message, as always, without speaking. When I awoke I said
nothing. I knew better.

            When I came home, they tried to tell me and I said "I know.
Grandma told me." My world was falling apart, but she was there as always,
to watch over me.


            In 1970, I gave birth to two beautiful baby boys, 1 hr. apart.
William James and Clifford Wayne. Their weight was 3.15 and 4.7.
respectively. They were too tiny and 1.5 months premature. The birth was
3/16/70. There were 3 babies in the nursery. I could identify each one by
their cry. Nurses were amazed. I bore the nickname "Little Tiger" by the
attending nurse who knew there were 2 before they were born.


            On the eve of March 17, 1970, I was visited again by my grandma,
but there was a difference this time. In her arms she held a tiny bundle.
She was crying. I could hear her beautiful voice this time. She said, " I am
sorry, but he is with me."

            I rose from my bed, went to the chair by the window and waited.
It was beginning to snow, and beneath the light in the parking
            lot it was beautiful. I watched that light, it seemed, forever.
Under the light, the babies father was parked. He came into the building.
For reasons known only to he and I, it was important
            to make him tell me and for me to say "I know. It was Billy who
died. Grandma has him. She was at the foot of my bed with him."


            Grandma was there when I found out about both children; the
surviving twin and my daughter who had heart problems, as I do. She was at
the foot of my bed with a girl child in braids, about 10 years old. To this
day I do not know if it was me or my daughter. I had open heart surgery in
1981, and she had a cardiac cath. in 1983. I have not seen her lately, but I
now have a male visitor who feels he did not treat me well when he was
alive. This could be my brother who died in 1995


            Brenda Daniels