Death of a loved one
Dealing with the death of a loved one is one of the saddest experiences we all have in life. Yesterday, my grandmother died. She had been in out out of the hospital over the past couple of years fighting the problems which ultimately took her. I think it was this drawn out roller-coaster of a ride that helps make it easier on the family now.
Several years ago, I was fortunate enough have spent some time with her using the NPR Story Corp set of questions to ask her things about her life that she and I had never spoken of. She told me stories of her childhood and her family. She made me laugh with stories about my grandfather and my mother. But, the most compelling thing she told me was in response to the question, “What’s the hardest thing about getting old?” She responded by telling me that she still felt like a 25 year old trapped in an old body that was breaking down and she couldn’t do anything to repair it.
While I am sad she is gone, she, BM, and I spent many hours together talking about all kinds of things. It has proven to be very therapeutic for me to have spent that time with her. In fact, just before Thanksgiving BM and I drove the twelve hours to visit with her before she moved from one assisted living facility to another. She was so excited to see BM and I and she was even more excited to talk about names for the baby. She would throw out a suggestion and one of us would tell her why that wasn’t a name we wanted to use. Finally, out of frustration I think, she decided the child’s name would be simply - Boy. While I have dealt with the fact that my grandmother was dying it is still sad that she won’t have a chance to meet “Boy.”
Below is a photo I took of her on one of the days I picked her brain with questions about her grade school experiences. She was such a sport to sit and let me ask her so many questions for so many hours. Then I asked if she would sit with the photo of her parents. Something about my mental image of her sitting on the couch alone with the picture of her parents made me want to try and take the shot. While the photo didn’t turn out exactly like I had envisioned, it still is a photo that brings back happy memories for us.
The second photo below was taken during out trip to visit her around Thanksgiving. She was stuck in the hospital and I wanted to take a photo that showed the emotion having to deal with the problems that put her there.
I took the last picture below about fifteen years ago while visiting my grandparents.
Anyway, I know it isn’t really baby related and I have tried to keep non baby stuff from finding its way on the blog, but I thought you would like to know. Please don’t feel an obligation to do anything as your friendship is more than we could ever ask for. I know if someone close to you had died, we would want to know as well.
She was a wonderful woman that loved all of her family. She raised three children and had two grandchildren.
You will be missed Grandma!
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