I was out of town this last weekend for my Grandmother's (my mom's mom) funeral. She died a couple weeks ago after a two year battle with a variety of cancers. And it was such a strange experience for me to be at my grandparents house in Ohio and her not be there.
As a child I would spend my summers in Ohio visiting my dad and I would always spend a little time with my grandparents going swimming in Lake Erie, watching videos from the library, going to Indians games and making raspberry pies with the raspberries that grew in my grandpa's garden; I have so many good memories from my grandparents house. And as I spent this last weekend there they all came flooding back and I half expected my grandma to come walking out of the kitchen and ask me to go to the garden and tell my grandpa that dinner was ready or to hear her from her bedroom saying that I needed to get ready for church. But she she wasn't there. And the more I looked at pictures of her the more I wished she was still here to play dominoes, or go skiing, or take me to visit the wild life center she volunteered at.
I can remember waking up some mornings as a child and she would be sitting in the sun room, drinking her tea, faithfully reading her Bible (with her pet bird sitting on her shoulder). And I can still hear her voice imploring me to find deeper truths in some of the TV shows that I watched as a kid (like Family Matters or Full House). And every time I saw my grandparents holding hands or cuddling on the couch, I was always in awe of the love they had for one another (if you get a chance, please pray for my grandpa, I know he will miss her dearly).
There is no doubt in my mind that my grandmother was an amazing woman; the kind of woman that I would like to be.
Here are some good pictures of my beautiful grandma (a lot of them are with my grandpa).
I love you, Grandma! I'll see you in a little while.
