Goodbye Grandma Suker

Brian’s sweet Grandma Suker passed away today, and I didn’t think it would be right to let the day pass without remembering her.

This post is going to be a bit random, but we will blame pregnancy brain.

First, I cannot think of Brian’s Grandma Suker without also thinking of his Grandpa. I hope that when we have been married 60+ years we are like that. They are like English muffins and apricot jam (something she would always serve us for breakfast when we were at her house), ham and hot mustard, Christmas and toffee, leftovers and sour cream containers, or Grandma Suker and a bargain- they just go together.  Really that kind of love, well that is something to strive for.

My first memory of Grandma Suker is actually not so much of her, but of her toffee. If you ever had the privilege of trying it you would know why that sticks in my head. I met Brian in the fall, and at some point he went to visit her while she was making it, I think it must have been in December, and she sent him home with a batch… by batch I mean pound. He let me try it and I was hooked. No really, I jokingly say this was the reason I married him. Before her toffee I loved almond roca, now that wont cut it. I ate all his toffee, and when he came to visit me in California he brought another batch… which I ate all of. She told me I had to become a Suker to get the recipe, I knew I had to marry him at that point. On the same toffee note, a few years after we were married she taught me how to make the toffee, she bought me a special pan, a thermometer, nuts, chocolate, and a cookie sheet, and we practiced. We must have made three batches that day. Oh the toffee, I hope this is one of her legacies that lives on with each passing generation, it is too delicious not to. I will say that no matter how many times I make the toffee or have it from someone else nothing (with the exception of Brian’s Aunt Kris’ toffee) compares, it is all delicious and addicting but something about Grandma Suker’s was different… I am going to say it was experience.

The first time I met Brian’s grandparents was in Provo. They met us for dinner, well actually they picked us up and took us to dinner at Los Hermanos. I was shocked, it was snowing and dark (in fairness it was January so it was probably 530 or so) but they came to us. They weren’t anything like grandparents I knew. They were energetic, bubbly, interested, and so funny. Brian actually 2 sets of awesome grandparents, and really when we got married I was so lucky to inherit them too. They joked all through dinner, Grandpa Suker teased Brian that he was putting dinner on his tab and that cheese was extra, and Grandma Suker insisted on dessert because we were much too thin. This was my first exposure to her phrase “oh honey”, and oh how that has stuck with me.

When we were engaged we spent a lot of time at their house. We would drive down and spend Friday night there, and it was so nice that each week that opened up their home to us. They asked about the wedding, school, families, roommates, recommended movies, always commented on how we weren’t eating right and filled our arms with more groceries than we could consume in a week. Grandma Suker always insisted that we at “least have a muffin” before we set out for the day. As I was 19 and in college I wasn’t used to this, but every week she force fed me English muffins with apricot or peach jam and I cannot think of either of those without transporting myself (just for a second) into her kitchen. When we were engaged she also took it upon herself to outfit out kitchen. I am going to be forever grateful to her for this. She hunted for deals and bought… well almost everything for our kitchen. As the days to our wedding drew near the pile of stuff grew and grew in her basement. I cannot go a single day without using at least one of the items she bought to cook, in reality I probably cant go a meal without using something she got us, she went for everything from a pasta pot to a blender. Really her generosity, and love a bargain was something to be admired.

Grandma Suker loved babies (I think I am skipping years here, but roll with it). She loved to cuddle them and coo over them. We visited Utah a few weeks after Michael was born (I think about 6) and when she met him her first response was “you got a good one”. I agreed. She used to ask how many we thought we would have, and then comment how my sister in law (Di) was a saint because she had 2, then 3, then 4, and now 5 on the way.

Oh Grandma Suker, she was funny, feisty, loved her kids dearly (no really, I hope when my kids (or should I say boys) are in their 50’s I still take the time to cut the crust of their sandwiches), was always busy, loved a good deal, walked hand in hand with her sweet husband, cooked like a pro, kept everyone well fed, and well stocked with leftovers, and wasn’t afraid to run the show.  We love and you will be missed!