Last summer, my grandmother passed away. We buried her on my mother's birthday. It was a tough time, but I think I handled the transition pretty well.
My grandmother had memory problems...I don't know if she technically had Alzheimer's or if it was just considered dementia, but either way she didn't know who I was anymore. My sister used to care for her when she started having trouble remembering things (several years after my grandfather passed away). It was at that time, that I started grieving her loss.
I was living in North Carolina and my sister & her family had moved into the finished basement of my grandparents farmhouse in Virginia to help care for my grandmother. I would periodically come up to visit, and each time I came I noticed she was mentally slipping away and it was so hard to watch.
My sister amazed me with her capacity for compassion. I don't think I could have ever done what she did for our grandmother. She was a saint, if you ask me.
Well, when the time came that my grandmother no longer knew who I was at all, I really suffered an emotional loss. This was the woman who taught me how to play the piano, do counted cross stitch and play solitaire (the old fashioned way, with a real deck of cards). She used to make my favorite meal, Chicken 'n' Dumplings whenever I and my family would come down for a visit while I was growing up. And she was always so kind...truly a kind person.
Anyway, this "loss" happened several years ago...before I met my husband. So when she passed away last year, I really was "okay" at that point. I was just happy she was in a better place.
The day after her passing I wrote an entry in my journal about what I recalled in visiting Grandma and Grandpa Beach. Those visits still remain fresh in my mind, since I and my husband purchased the farmhouse they built and lived in for decades and we are presently raising our family there now. I can still sometimes smell the bacon cooking (which we don't even eat pork anymore) as I ascend the basement stairs.
Remembering is a good thing. I hope you can cherish your memories...I know I do. Feel free to share any special memories of your grandparents below. It will feel good to recall the good stuff. ;)
Sunday, April 29, 2007
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