Remembering...

Carol Forsberg Weber

my grandma, a mother, a wife, a woman people named their children after, a girl who hung up on a boy, who was trying to ask her out, because he was asking too many dumb questions, a Ricks college alumni, the woman who thought that women should wear dresses to show that they were ladies, a woman who wanted to sock her annoying roommate in the face, a favorite to all boys under the age of 5, a woman who knew how to follow the Spirit, who fell in love with Raymond and mistakenly thought she wasn't good enough for him, a woman who mothered 9 of her own children and was a light to so many more, whose favorite color was pink, who helped me make cookies, always sent me home with a treat, a woman who called me beautiful when i was 14 and i didn't believe it unless she was the one who said it, a woman i strive to emulate

i have been wanting to do this for quite some time, but today i finally sat down with my grandma's life story and read through her entries. she is the woman that i try and model my life after, a woman i can only hope to be, and at this time in my life when i'm trying to decide the next big step...i knew that i needed to learn from my grandma and remember her example. The entries i read today are mostly from her years at Ricks College, which i absolutely loved reading! I felt that i related to her experiences so much more after having gone there myself- it was remarkable! the more that i read, the more i realized how similar i am to her!

Example #1- when Carol was at college, this annoying boy called her up to ask her to go to a dance. he just kept talking and asking her dumb questions, and she had just been heading out the door to go to class. He was absolutely wasting her time and she had no interest in going out with him, so she hung up the phone and went to class! when i read that story to my mom, she said "That sounds like you!" and it absolutely does! I see my grandma as this amazing woman, but even she could turn down a boy and feel completely and entirely guilt free afterwards!

Example #2- when Carol was at college, she had a roommate that drove her absolutely bonkers! this girl was so emotional, rude, selfish and all around annoying! this roommate had made dinner one night, and Carol had not liked it so she hadn't eaten very much, to which her roommate freaked out! Carol wanted to punch her right in her lousy face, but didn't, even though she really wanted to! Oh my heck, this almost exactly same thing happened with me and a very unsavory roommate of mine! and i didn't sock her in the face either!

Example #3- she loved Ricks College and i loved BYU-Idaho! i think you can say that's the same thing!

Example #4- Carol was in charge of the finances for her apartment (which is nothing like me, people shouldn't put me in charge of money), so she bought the groceries for her apartment every week. One day, while going grocery shopping, she says, "Went to go buy groceries and bought some new high heeled shoes too"! Love it, wouldn't and haven't i done the exact same thing!? Every time i would go to Walmart in Rexburg, i'd become distracted by the Payless shoes right next door! maybe my urge to shop is genetic!

Example #5- Carol's first semester was filled with wonderful roommates! They would stay up late at night doing all sorts of things college girls do when they should be sleeping! My favorite is the entry when she said they came home and made fudge and stayed up until 1:30! How often can i say the same thing? Can you say fudge nuggets ladies!?

These are just little stories that mean the world to me because maybe it means that if i can be so similar to her in these ways, maybe there's still hope for me to someday be the woman that she was! My grandma died right before my 16th birthday, and as her oldest grandchild, I remember her the most, but I don't remember everything. I wish that all of those moments were written down, so i could keep reading them, keep remembering them, i wish that there were pages and pages more to read. maybe then i could figure out how she became the woman she is, so maybe, i could carry on that legacy, her legacy- a woman so revered by those who knew her, and so admired for her service and love, that she was spoken of as near perfection at the end of her life. I don't know how to accomplish such a task, but i know she's the woman i love and the kind of woman i want to be like someday