My Grandma Passed Her Euology

My mom asked if I was going to speak for Grandma like I did for Grandpa when he passed. At first with all the areas of my own life in turmoil I didn’t know what to get up and say that would make sense. Though like most things in my life if I give it a little time ideas started rolling through my head. This morning I woke and decided I needed to share a small piece of what I noticed and learned from Grandma.

Due to things happening in my life I have had a bit more time on my hands. With this time I was able to get to see grandma more in the last few months then I had in some the previous years. I think when all is good in our life we take things for granted. We forget the important people in our lives. Then when things turn for the worse we look at and try to cram and catch up. I know I have done this with Grandma and with that I hope to write a lesson one - to take the time to nurture relationships and spend more time with family, for tomorrow they can be taken from us.

Over the last couple months I would sneak in to see Grandma sometimes at 10pm. I sat there with her talking in the dark and in one of our conversations she asked me if I wanted to know anything. Being a curious person by nature I said yes. I always have something I want to learn and for the next hour I asked Grandma question after question. She answered each one. That night I learned more about Grandma then I thought possible. One question I asked her was “have you ever smoked pot?” She looked at me laughing and said “NO”, but there was a small glimmer of tease that left me wondering. Grandma seemed to smile and laugh at me often when I came to see her. Maybe because of the silly questions, maybe because she saw a piece of Grandpa’s joking ways. Second lesson learned is take time to listen and just not hear. Listening to someone “IS” love and can open many more questions and leave both parties, in this case Grandma and me, with warm feelings.

As we all know, Grandma was a tough and strong lady. She physically worked hard beside Grandpa, making a living to help support the family. She had that special relationship with Grandpa, that connection, that partnership, that closeness that drove her to be with him. Even when Grandpa passed she was still attached to him at some core level that we can all look at with amazement. I can’t remember anytime while visiting with Grandma that Grandpa didn’t come up in the conversation at some point. Grandma showed her love in strange ways sometimes to us, but to Grandpa she never once wavered a thought otherwise. My sister, Kary would say she not only loved Grandpa but she LIKED who and what made him. If you take this next lesson to heart then Grandma really has not left us but only changed how we learn from her. The third Lesson learned is to look for the inner core values in people and who they truly are and then cherish them for that, and if you find that level in someone as Grandma did for Grandpa then they really never leave us, they are part of us. Grandma left a piece of herself in all of us, hold it, nurture it, listen to it, and most of all cherish it.