Lessons Learned From Grandma Sauter

My Facebook Story memories have been reminding me this week of the month I spent last year selling the remaining items in my Grandmother’s house, before it was sold. Grab a chair and enjoy the lessons and stories I plan to share this week as I reflect back on Grandma Sauter’s life.

1. Create an inviting environment for the grandkids to run away to.

My earliest memories begin living next door to my Grandparents. Once my sister and I came along, my grandparents knew they would have to move south from Rochester, NY. After purchasing a home in Vestavia Hills, AL they returned home to New York to find out they were given an early retirement option from Kodak and wouldn’t have to resign. (I am still learning… When you follow your heart, the details always work themselves out.) Before they could finish their move South, the next door neighbors began talking of selling their home, so my parents bought the house and moved from their starter home in Homewood.

As my sister and I grew up next door to my grandparents, it meant a bigger yard and driveway to play in and a safe place to run away to any time of day. We have so many memories of family stories being recounted during coffee breaks spent together. After dinner it was always fun to run next door and watch Wheel or Fortune and be spoiled with a cone of ice cream. It meant having a babysitter or extra chauffeur when needed.

When you are 9 years old and you can spend Friday night at your grandparent’s and stay up watching TGIF in the back bed room, you feel like you are at the Taj Mahal.

Christmas and birthdays were always celebrated at Grandma Sauter’s house around their kitchen table and sunroom. The special Fisher-Price toys stayed at Grandma’s house, and the entertainment options stored behind the sunroom bar evolved through the years. Many of those same toys reemerged when the great grandchildren came along. Puzzles were worked together on the sunroom table, and my grandfather in his later years always had a crafty project to keep his hands busy.

The great grandkids have their own memories of the many times they got to visit Grandma Sauter. Grandma would keep a big jar of Jelly Belly jelly beans in her pantry and every time the kids visited she would tell them to go get their “medicine.” We made sure to have her antidote for keeping the doctor away for people to take at her Coffee Break Memorial.

As I move closer to the grandparenting age myself, I don’t know if the path my girls will take will land them near or far from me, but I have witnessed great intentional examples that my parents and in-laws have provided for my children and fond memories of being close to grandparents growing up.

For those who are currently grandparents, share with us a tradition or fond memory you have with your grandkids. For those not yet grandparents, what is one thing you would like to do with your grandkids one day?

A story I shared on August 6, 2020, that I felt applicable to this lesson.

As we help my Grandma Sauter clean out her home of 36 years in preparation to sell her house it is items like this that bring back savory memories.

Grandma Sauter is the one who taught me how to bake and I vividly remember learning to sift flour through this flour sifter. Do recipes even call for sifted flour these days in our modern, get it done fast society?

If we ever needed a dessert to take to a gathering, she was sure to have a brownie, cake, or cookie mix in her pantry inventory.

Grandma’s house next door always had the treats and sweets! My sister and I knew we could always go visit after supper and she would always have cookies or ice cream for the choosing. Hence, our overweight childhood status. During these visits, I can’t tell you how many episodes of Wheel of Fortune I watched with her at 6:30.

I remember flipping through her most recent Taste of Home magazines to find the hidden needle. Then always finding a recipe I wanted to try.

Looking back now I see that purchasing, preparing and sharing food always brought Grandma Sauter great joy.

2. Loyalty and consistency pays off.

My Grandmother began working at a bakery in her teens after school. Before she had even graduated high school, at 17 she began working at the local Rochester empire, Kodak. She moved her way through several departments during her time at Kodak and was able to get my grandfather, who lacked a high school diploma, a job with the company before they got married.

My grandfather was a jack of all trades and was determined to build their first home before they got married. Grandma told us she sold her car to help him have funds to begin the project. They worked late hours after work to complete that project before their wedding.

They added projects to that land over the years to entertain and host family and friends. I’m sure it was hard to give up something you had spent 30 years building together.

In the previous story I recounted my grandparent’s early retirement after their years of loyalty to Kodak. Each year they received a bonus that they chose to invest that grew 10x by the time they retired.

Grandma and Grandpa Sauter were both good examples to us all of loyalty and consistency to finish what you start well.

Today it is less common to stay with one company for your entire career. How long did your parents, grandparents work for a company?

A story I shared on December 4, 2019, that I felt applicable to this lesson.

Kodak is ingrained somewhere in my DNA. My father’s parents both worked blue collar jobs at Kodak in Rochester, NY for 35+ years before retiring and moving to Alabama in 1983. They were loyal to Kodak and Kodak was loyal to them. They were able to retire young and move to Alabama to be closer to their only son and two granddaughters. After they settled on a house in Vestavia, the house next door to them became available that my parents purchased, so I grew up always having grandparents next door. I remember stories they would recount of their Kodak days. Many of us remember growing up with our parents and grandparents having a 35 mm camera that required rolls of film that you would then have to take to the local drug store to send off to be developed in hopes that you got some decent shots of your memories to throw into a photo album. Kodak monopolized the film industry for many years and made photography readily available to the average consumer.

Today I was reminded of a story from #SimonSinek of Kodak’s downfall in not being existentially flexible. In the 1975 an engineer at Kodak invented the digital camera but Kodak suppressed the technology because they feared it would hurt their film and development chemical sales if this technology was released. Ten years later Nikon and Fuji came out with the first digital cameras. Kodak chose not to innovate and adapt with the emerging digital trends in the late 90s and as a result has all but become extinct in the photography world today.

I find it ironic that I found a million-dollar career in the digital photography world. Thank you Spoiled Rotten Photography for launching me to the next level!

As my mom was clearing out drawers in their home to move out, she came across a stash of old Kodak film that expired 50 years ago. That film serves no functional purpose to me today, but I will hold on to these bright yellow boxes to serve as a reminder to be able to adapt to change and be willing to innovate to keep up with the shifts and changes in life and business.

3. Work hard, but take a break. Take the trips, see the places.

While my grandparents worked hard, they also knew the value of taking a break and traveling to see new places. When my Dad was a boy, they took a truck camper out West to hit many of the National Parks for a 5 week epic journey.

When they retired, they made traveling a priority to do together. They took multiple river cruises on the Mississippi Queen. They would visit family back North. After my grandfather’s passing, Grandma was able to continue to see new places with retiree groups.

As a child it was always fun to hear of their adventures and see pictures of places outside my little world.

My first memory of Disney World was with my Grandparents in 1985.

I am known to have a hard time putting work to the side, but I have come to LOVE traveling. It is refreshing to get outside your own little world to experience different people and places. As a creative, visual person I gain new inspiration in each trip I take. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to combine work opportunities with travel in recent years to explore more places.

It is fun to see many of the places in person that I may have heard about or seen pictures of as a child. Of course it is always more memorable to see the places in person!

I pray my children will get to visit many of the places I have experienced over the years and develop a passion for seeing more of this beautiful earth.

Do you have a favorite place you have visited in the United States?

4. A penny saved is a penny earned.

Grandma Sauter was the queen of thrifty living, shopping, and finding a bargain! As a child I always remember her clipping and organizing coupons. She understood extreme couponing before it was a fad. I remember trips my grandparents took to New York where they took hundred of bottles to return for a deposit credit and came back with a van load of cereal and other products that they got practically free with tripled coupons or something like that. Her pantry was always lined with options that appealed to any kid, and meticulously inventoried as well.

When radio stations were doing promotions around town or stores were hosting grand openings, she was always one of the first in line to get the goodies. She proudly wore the free t-shirts she collected for years. She would send off for rebates and we would often get goodies at Christmas with Keebler elves, Lipton ice tea, or some other branded keepsake.

In the past year as we have been going through saving and getting rid of Grandma’s stuff, some of the most treasured keepsakes for the great grandkids have been the thrifty t-shirts and sweatshirts they remember her wearing time after time.

My grandparents were children of the Depression Era, so they knew what it was like to go without or be resourceful with what they had. My grandparents taught us the value of saving up and paying cash for big ticket items like furniture and cars. It was a principle they lived by. Instead of paying a bank interest to borrow money, they wanted the bank paying them interest for keeping money in the bank. While my sister and I may not have understood the value of this principle at the time, that principle has influenced our decisions as we have grown.

So when I see a penny on the ground, I will continue to pick it up in honor of my Sauter heritage.

A story I shared on September 20, 2019, that I felt applicable to this lesson.

This year continues to bring change for my extended family. Today my Grandmother is moving to a local retirement apartment. As one of the most strong-willed and independent women I have known in my life, this decision has not been easy for her to make, but it has been a necessary decision.

As the girls and I were visiting last week, we were taking a few treasures that we wanted to keep from her home that we have all known for the last 36 years. She has a sunroom on the back of the house that has always had potted plants on shelves and in corners. I don’t remember ever stopping to pay close attention to what they look like, but just knew they were there. When I saw this tall tree and beautiful green variegated leaves, I knew it would fit perfectly in a spot I wanted to fill between our kitchen and den.

When I heard the story of this plant being purchased at Kmart years ago for $.25 as a single small potted plant, the value of the lessons my Grandmother have taught me skyrocketed! My Grandmother has always been a thrifty shopper and probably often too frugal, but I was blessed to grow up next door to her and learn how to shop for bargains and wait to make purchases until you could pay for it in full. For Birthdays and Christmas we might get a small amount of cash in a card to spend, but my grandparents always made sure to deposit more in our savings account. We were taught concepts like compounding interest and how you can grow your money over time by letting it sit and earn free money

I don’t know what year this plant was originally purchased, but I do know that it will serve as a beautiful reminder to me and my family of how something small can grow to something big over time with patience and attention.

Now, I may just have to set a reminder to remember to water it!

5. Don’t wait until the end to tell someone how much you love and appreciate them.

One of the most emotional moments is visiting a dying relative you were close to for the last time. What words do they need to hear from you in that moment? What can I do for you? How can I comfort you? What words do you wish you had said before now? Are you proud of me?

Emotions can be hard for me. I feel them deeply, but don’t always know how to express them verbally to others. I am aware of this about myself and have been working on it in the past several years.

The last couple of weeks I have been thinking about the quirks and idiosyncrasies that each of us have, that we often try to hide or maybe others are annoyed by them; it is those things that we tend to remember and miss the most after someone when they are not with us.

2020 was a hard year for the older generation. Masks, mandates, and social isolation did not help anyone. Grandmas Sauter had moved into a retirement village Fall 2019 and the family had been able to go see her fairly often. The following Spring we had to get creative with outdoor visits. By Fall 2020, family members were allowed back inside on a limited basis. In November I was prompted to take a day and go video record an interview with Grandma to compile a Christmas gift from her to the great grandchildren and future generations. This hour long video is a glimpse into what it was like for her growing up, her career, and life as a mother and grandmother. Paired with old pictures, this video will be a family heirloom for years to come. A week after I recorded the video, her shallow breathing sent her to the hospital and full time oxygen became her new way of life. It was a blessing to have her live with my parents for the last 9 months of her life. We were able to have her at one last Thanksgiving and Christmas with us.

Many of you know photography has been a part of my story for as long as I can remember. While I may not be the best with physical emotions and spoken words, I know how to capture those emotions and tell a story. My message to you today is… take the pictures, record the videos, journal the stories.

Live with no regrets… let people know that you love and appreciate them and how they have inspired and influenced your life. You never know when your simple words can add another year to someone’s life.

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