Lillian Ingabourg Jaakkola Mattson

That's a lotta long names for my

"Gramma Matt".

I love her.

She took me to Mackinac Island the summer I was 8. Here we are.... Great tennies, eh? and... Hey, Gramma, I love that hand bag. (Really, I do. I wish it was still around, I'd use it and be happy about it.)

If I'd had more kids I'd have named them Lilli and Jakk or Jaak. (not typo-s, pronounced yakolla, a Fin from the UP.) Guess I got the double consonent thing goin', nn, tt.

She was widowed in her early 30's with only 1 child, an adolescnet daughter (my mom), so when we grandkids came along, she was luuuuuvin' us up. She loved my dad too. She never re-married. That's a long time to be not married. I admire her for her integrity. She had that.

She died when I was only 10, but in those 10 years we got to know eachother quite well, and I don't feel jipped at all by losing her so young.

I think my mom looks much like her, and I like my mom. I miss them both. They were both fabulous Grammas. I'll see them again one day.