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Storytime BearsThey tore down my Grandma's house today, and I am so sad. She died a year ago this past Nov. and she lived near the local college and they have wanted her house for a very long time to expand the college and now it is gone, I miss my grandma so much, sometimes my heart aches and finding out they torn down her house makes me feel like I have lost my grandma again. She lived a block away from me when I was still living at home and I loved her so much, we were so much a like and we were truely best friends, her house had a garden and a big yard to catch lightening bugs in and my favorite time was to sit on her front porch on her swing and just talk, drink lemonaide and make doll clothes. She taught me to sew in that house, she made wonderful sunday dinners in that house and my grandpa would watch the Cubs every year in that house, always hoping this would be their year.
We had so many wonderful Christmas memories there , they were too numerous to pick just one, I gave her the news I was going to get married, in that house, each time I found out I was pregnant, I couldn't wait to go to grandma's to share my wonderful news. Sometimes I just needed a shoulder to cry on and I always seemed to feel better after a visit. Grandmas are good at that. Grandma lived until she was 89 and she passed away at home, as she wanted, the second to the last visit with her , I went to say hello, she was in bed most of the time, I woke her up and she looked up at me and said "oh honey you look like an angel" she got up for just a few minutes and said she was tired and went back to bed, but not without giving me a hug and a kiss and telling me she loved me. Two night later I went to see her and she had gotten worse and the docter said it wouldn't be long, I whispered to her it was OK to go, that we all loved her and would see her again. I got the call at 2:00am that night, she had left us.
I know that it wasn't the house that made it special , it was my grandma and grandpa and the memories we shared there, and those can't be torn down, but when I found out they had tore it down, it made my grandma being gone more real and it was harder then I thought it would be.
Love
Jodi
Bearly Kidz BearsWhat a very sweet house. I'm so sorry for your lost I know how you feel about them tearing down the house can make you feel like you loosing her all over again.
Denise
BrisbaneJodi I am sorry to hear about your grandmothers house.....It is really sad that they have to tear down such a sweet house in the name of progress!! :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:
What a beautiful little house.
Your Grandma certainly sounds like she was a very special person. I know it must be hard to know that the house is gone, but your memories of your grandma and her house can never be taken away from you - so continue to cherish those. The people we have loved, can live on in us if we always remember them.
I'm so sorry for your sadness. :hug:
DoodlebearsOh Jodi Big Hugs, I know that you are hurting right now but it is as you said the memories of your grandma and grandpa that will stay with you forever. The house was a really cute house and obviously full of sweet dear memories. It is sad that it has gone but your Grandma and Grandpa will stay with you forever in your heart.
More hugs for you Jodi...
:hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:
When I lost my grandparents I made a memory box in which I put photographs and other little thing, it stays just as special to me today and I lost them many years ago.
Hugs Jane. :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:
Storytime BearsThanks so much everyone, you are all so sweet and it really does help, Jane it's funny you did that, you sound just like me, when my parents moved out of their house, which they lived in for 43 years, I took a set of the doorknobs that was on my old bedroom door, I always thought it looked like a diamond, then when Grandma passed away I took one of her doorknob sets, that led to their backporch, I know I am starting to sound like Aunt Gladys from the show Bewitched, but I had made a memory box of my parents and of my grandparents house, then for christmas I made my sister who lives in Florida, a memory box that had one of the doorknobs and other things from my Grandmas, in a box for her to open when she misses home. I felt bad taking the doorknobs when I did it, but I am so happy I did now, (I replaced them with new knobs).
Here is what I put in the box I made for myself:
the picture of her house that is in this post
the doorknob
a spool of thread from her sewing kit
my favorite picture of my grandparents together
my grandma's measuring spoons
a tool from my grandpa's tool box
a christmas cookie cutter
a piece of my Grandma's jewelry
a recipe card she had filled out
a picture of some of my family at a Christmas gathering at their house
everytime I look at it, it does make me happy. I am not saying everyone should take doorknobs, but those little bits, that don't seem really important by themselves, sure do help when they are all together to bring back some fond memories.
Dolls N DreamsOh Jodi, that does look like a little story book house. You will always have the memories of your grandmother and the wonderful times you shared. No one can take that away!
I lost my grandmother a few weeks ago too! And my mom and aunt are going to have to clear her house out now and sell it. So I know what you mean it is a strange feeling that the part of her I remember as a child (house)
will also be gone! 
hugz to ya! :hug:
sewing starsI took a set of the doorknobs that was on my old bedroom door, I always thought it looked like a diamond, then when Grandma passed away I took one of her doorknob sets, that led to their backporch
i have my grandmother's baking pans! i miss her, but when i make brownies or bread in the pans i took i feel closer to her somehow. i also have some of her thread, and fabric too.
i am sorry they tore down the house, i imagine it was filled with so many memories! :hug:
What a very lovely house your Grandparents lived in and how neat that you were able to fill a box with all her treasures to
remind you of how special she was to you.
Hugs
Carolyn
Bumpkin BearsDear Jodi, I can so understand how you are feeling. I am currently going through the same thing with my family home. My Mum passed away a few years ago, my Dad has now re-married and has sold our family home to developers that are going to knock it down and build 4 tiny houses on the plot 
I find it very hard to think of, especially the garden and all the plants that Mum and I lovingly raised all being ruined.. Like you and others say, it is good that we at least had the memories to hold on to, but I know what it makes you feel and how it all seems all the more real. So I send you all the understanding hugs that I can :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug: Your memory box sounds lovely too
Catherine
xx
Chaska, MinnesotaDear Jodi: how sad for you. It is like losing her all over isn't it. When my grandma died, my aunt sold her house but before she did she went into my grandma’s garden and dug up some of her perennials and replanted them in her yard. Every year grandma’s floweres are blooming away and we still have a piece of her. In fact some of the flowers belonged to my great grandmother....So if it is possible, is there any plants left? Maybe they will let you dig some up...Just a thought.
Posts: 1,836Hi Jodi,
So sorry to hear about your grandparents home. When a home is filled with such wonderful memories it is hard to think about anything bad happening to the home itself. I can relate to that totally. Like everyone else has already said, it really is about the memories that you have...those can't be torn down or remodeled :hug:
My family just went through the same thing. My grandfather passed years ago, I was 15...but my grandmother just past last year and the family just sold her house this year. Everyone was at the house often cleaning it out and packing up stuff. I found a few things in my Poppops work area that might have looked like junk to outsiders, but I saw treasures. I even have the backboard to his workbench (screwdrivers and all) hanging in the stairwell to my downstairs family room. It's nice to have those pieces visible day to day.
Maybe someday you'll turn those glass doorknobs into a lovely "hook" for something special in your bedroom or studio. Have you ever seen those types of doorknob items? Let me know, I can send a link...I've always wanted to make one.
:hug:
~Chrissi
This was a rusted out greasy oil can from my poppop's workbench. Little elbow grease and it's art to me.
And his workbench back...he built that bench and I'm glad I took this piece of it.
Flying Fur StudiosOh Jodi, that is soo sad. Sometimes a house can hold so many memories for us.
I don't know what else to say......I'm glad you have kept a few items and my heart is with you.
What a sweet, touching story, Jodi. But what a lovely tribute to your grandmother's memory, the way you so poignantly shared it. The sweet little corncobs hanging from the tree make your memories smell like canned peaches and love to me, all the more. I'm so sorry you have to lose your grandma all over again in this way. but I'm so glad you have such wonderful remembrances of her locked in your heart. It's not that way for everyone, with their grandmas. You were so lucky, and I can tell you already know!
:hug: :hug:
Storytime BearsChrissi, what a cool way to display that oil can, and the work bench looks so great on the wall. You know the thing that makes it hardest is when the house was still there I could drive by and it was kind of like a tangible proof that they were real and now that it is gone and soon to be paved over, it will feel like they were just a really wonderful dream. I know this all sounds goofy, because I know they were real, I hate going to their graves to remember them, I always thought I could go to the house and remember them and the wonderful times we shared there, and now that is gone. They had wonderful hostas around the house and I sure wish I would have dug everything up and replanted here at my house. I know a thing like a house shouldn't matter but they do , I mean look how excited people get to go to Stonehenge, it was a place people created memories and it is still standing so it makes those that were there real, without it they vanish forever. I think what I need to do is maybe donate a park bench and put a plaque on it with their names or plant a tree in their memory. thank you all for letting me cry on your shoulders, your kind words mean more then I can say.
Big Bear Hugs
Posts: 2,203I am so sorry jodi. :hug: My great Nana lived in a house that was used as part of the underground railroad. The people who bought it let it get rundown. It breaks my heart. I want to rescue that house. My Nana her daughter still lives in the house my mother grew up in.
Bears by JodiJodi Falk
Posts: 8,574Jodi,
Thank you for sharing your heartfelt beautiful story of your grandma and the joy you learned to share in her home. You learned a lot more than sewing.
gollygentlehugs
dilu
Storytime BearsYou guys are the best,
The kindness you all have shown has made me feel so much better, it's funny, coming here and posting and having such encouragement and kindness has kind of felt like I did, when I went to my grandmas, I always left feeling better.
I am sending you all a big hug tonight! :hug:
Jodi it's funny I thought the same thing, isn't that so funny, I always get excited when I meet a Jodi, even the Jody's with a Y, and the ie Jodies, but the Jodi's spelled with just an "i" I get a feeling of sisterhood, does other like name people feel this way or is it just goofy me?, but I am like you the more I read about you and see your work I feel like I know you really well. Maybe it is as Anne of Green Gables always said, maybe we are kindred spirits.
Bears by JodiIt is strange ... there is something that connects us more than just being Teddy bear designers. :hug: and Jodi's :dance: And it makes me smile. 
Jellybelly BearsJodi I'm sorry :hug: :hug: your story has made my heart ache for you, but I'm so glad you have such lovely memories and your memory box is so beautiful. hugs xx :hug: :hug:
Storytime BearsThis is how the house looked today
Again thanks everyone for your kindness and loving words.
Bears by JodiI am so sorry for your loss Jodi, Time will heal and time will NEVER take away the memories. Thats progress... tear down the past .... jump into the future.... its a shame some times, well most times.
LutonThats so sad!! 
I my Nana a few months ago and the house where she lived is being sold. At least I have some of her things with me at my home!!
Hugs to you Jodi!!
Claire
