my mamba

Late monday afternoon I learned that my grandmother (mamba) died. Amy Laura Elizabeth Luecke Lutjens, my dad’s mom, went to be with Jesus on Sunday afternoon.

My mamba, my ‘Gram’, was quite a lady. The kitchen table always full of guests of all sorts, the extra beds nearly always full (including the ever popular twin beds in the hall upstairs), her bridge/teeth left next to the sink in the upstairs bathroom, her “pockabook” (aka pocketbook) always jammed to capacity (lipstick for putting on in the car as Grampa was always waiting outside for her, Bible tracts for handing out to the guys in the toll booths on the NJ Turnpike, and the favorite amongst us grandkids was the stash of gum she always carried with her), the stack of mail and brochures she kept next to her Bible to pray through in her morning devotions, the carloads of stuff she always brought with her – “everything but the kitchen sink” - whenever she and grampa took roadtrips to visit their kids and grandkids, the jam packed refrigerator in her kitchen that only she had any idea of where/what anything was inside, her smile, her laugh, “how’s your ever livin’ heart?”, the two-handed wave as she stood outside 895 Westwood Avenue as we pulled out of the driveway headed home (wherever that happened to be at the time) that continued until we were out of sight, her love of nuts…in EVERYTHING…, her frugality (especially in regards to wrapping paper), her hugs, her jumps off the high dive at family reunions, and my personal favorite memory was one that she repeated throughout my life even through the later years when she couldn’t remember my name, but she would hug me, kiss my cheek, often pinch them, and say to whoever was nearby (sometimes a complete stranger) “Doesn’t she have the most beautiful dimples?! Just look at them!”

I am so glad that Jesus took her home, but she will be dearly missed!