The week
leading up to my aunt’s funeral brought more pain for our family. My
grandmother went in for a relatively elective heart surgery. She was healthy
and full of life. The surgery went well. A few days after the surgery she
suffered a couple of strokes…. The good
news was that she was in the hospital when this happened – couldn’t have happened
at a better place, right? She was rushed into surgery and had a clot buster
surgery done and we were assured that, while the damage done was unknown, it
was no longer a “life threatening” situation. Unfortunately, it was discovered
that too much damage had been done. The
end result, after this elective surgery that she had packed her makeup
and shorts for her trip home, was that my grandmother was taken off of life support and
passed away. Less than a week after my aunt had been buried. A week to the day after
my aunt was buried, my grandmother was buried. Today was her funeral and it was
really a celebration of the person that she was and the life she lived. There
was crying, but there was laughter. She touched so many people with her kindness,
generosity, and her zeal for life. I was fortunate to have three sets of
grandparents in my life. My grandmother because just that when my mom and
stepdad married when I was a bitty girl. She took me in and never treated me
any differently than any of her other grandchildren. She was funny. She loved
to dance and sing, play games, play pool. Her quirky sayings. Her black hair.
Her gingerbread man cookies on the Christmas tree. Her lasagna every single
Christmas Eve. Singing Three Dog Night with my aunt. Margaritas. Repeated
stories. Her red nails (which were not red lately, but were for as long as I
can remember). Her cat figurine collection. Wine. Old albums being played in
the background during a game of cards. Tubing with my cousin. Patience and
strength. Faith. Humor. Courage. Her laugh. A phone call with the birthday song
being sung while a ukulele was strummed. These are just a few things that fly
through my mind when I think of Grandma. I wonder about the future and I worry
about her kids – my dad and his brother and sisters. I worry about her
granddaughter.
I really haven’t
wrapped my mind around what has happened. I’ve felt bad because I don’t feel like
I’m mourning like I feel I should be. Don’t get me wrong - I have cried and
felt sadness, anger, disbelief. But I don’t think it has hit that within a
couple of weeks we lost two fantastically unique women. These two women hit it
off at my wedding six and a half years ago. I remember looking over and seeing
them dancing with each other….except they weren’t dancing – they were spinning
each other around in circles. Which didn’t seem like a good idea at all at the
time, but they walked away unharmed. And now I see them together spinning and
laughing and having such a wonderful time. I hope that they spin together in
Heaven <3
