Memories from Peter
I liked Jeanne right away. Early on in my introduction to the family, as probably so many other in-laws have experienced, there was this daunting period of having to learn what seemed like about 100 names. But Briana said, "If you forget her name, just call her Grandma." As it happened, I never did have trouble remembering her name, and she never had trouble remembering mine. As soon as she spotted me at a family gathering, she'd say, "PETER! How are you?" Toward the end, she still recognized me, although she did pull me aside and point across the room at Briana and said, "Now, who's that one?"
As many have said, she was such a delightful combination of sweetness and no-nonsense.
Also, she was kind. Once, we decided to make Thai noodles with peanut sauce at her house, and it was pretty clear that that sounded like a horrible idea to her, but she tried them and said, "It's interesting!" Good enough!
Another time, we were helping her unpack some Christmas decorations and I got hungry. There wasn't much to eat, but she pointed out a plastic container with some saltines in it. The moment I put one in my mouth I knew it was a mistake. Back in school, one of my professors really tried to impress upon us the unhealthiness of consuming rancid oils. He said once, "If you're ever eating a nut and you discover it's rancid, I don't care if the Queen herself gave it to you. Spit it out!" Now this cracker was seriously rancid. Not just rancid but chewy. Crackers should not be chewy. That professor's words popped into my head and I thought, "I need to get this out of my mouth immediately." But as I turned back to her, having just popped that chewy, rancid cracker in my mouth, she said, "Peter! THANK YOU so much for helping me with this stuff." And I chewed it up and swallowed it and said, "You're so welcome, Jeanne!"  It was worth it.
Thanks, everyone, for welcoming me into your family.