Grandma Garlick

What grandma said about our last name:
"We added the K to take the stink out of it!"

Me and Kalan with Grandma

I'm grateful for my grandma Elaine Garlick! Today we celebrated her 77th birthday. She died 10 1/2 years ago from cancer and we all love her so much! Tonight, all of us cousins who go to BYU met up at Brick Oven to celebrate her life. We could have sat around that table talking all through the night about our memories, fun times, and lessons learned from grandma. As I was driving home all I could think about is how amazing of a woman she was to leave such a legacy and impression upon all of her grandchildren individually, all 30+ of us, at such young ages. My grandma is an example of charity---all she did was for other people---and it was all for her family. She was, and still is, very involved in each of our lives. I have so many great memories of my grandma. Sunday dinners were the greatest and they happened quite often. I loved how she let us slide down the huge staircase on the couch cushions and play hide-and-go-seek in her big house. I remember her "tinnie tiny stories" and how she would explain the "three ways to take peanut butter off the roof of your mouth." She was always happy and so selfless. I remember when she took me, Eliza, Ruth, and Kalan to get slurpees and wrote a book about our lives. I remember her funeral and how it was really a celebration of her life---all of her grandchildren sang and I remember shaking President Packer's hand and thinking about the great example my grandma is and the impact she had on everyone in the overflowing cultural hall. With all of our family there, I think it felt a lot like what heaven will feel like---and that is what it felt like sitting around a table at the Brick Oven talking about a woman who left behind a legacy---a legacy that because of her we will never, ever be the same.