Grammie

From November 14, 2010

My grandmother lived a long and full life. Today (9/24/10) began her rest in Jesus - it's something we've been expecting for awhile, something that's for the best. But I post this old journal entry in her memory, and for those others eagerly waiting for a day of ultimate reunion.

9/29/06: I’ve known that Grandma’s been getting old for a while now. I’ve watched the declension of the vision, memory, reasoning, and energy. The woman who was once so close fades to someone I know less and less. Yet I still see glimpses of the “Grammie” I loved so much. The one I’d lay in bed with in her old Owensboro, Kentucky home and ask, “Grammie, tell me about when you were a little girl.” The one whose visits made sleeping in the guest room fun. The one who’s been there as long as I remember, and whose house was worth those long drives to go visit. There were the summer afternoons reading books on her porch. The tales about relatives, friends, and places of long ago. The little toys that moms and dads won’t buy you, but grandma will. Thanks to Grandma I’ll never forget the taste of minty lifesavers, those little green stamps we used to lick and paste into booklets for free stuff, and carob pie that never really gelled like the chocolate kind but still made a yummy soup.

I guess that no matter how old someone gets, you’re never really ready to let them go. Suddenly emerge all the questions I hadn’t asked yet, all the history that I’ll never get to know or preserve, and all the things I didn’t get to say to or do with Grandma....

Grammie, I love you. I miss you like you don’t know, but someday – soon – I know I’ll see you again. I can’t wait to lie in your guest room and tell stories. And this time, we can stay up as late as we want.

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18