My Grandma

What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories. ~George Eliot

I got word the other night that My Grandma was in the hospital. She had fluid in her lungs and could only use 8%, and there were problems with her kidneys. She would need dialysis (for which she was refusing) and if stayed on the course she was on would be given about 2 weeks of life left. How can so many cold sounding facts make a heart drop so quickly? They sound so numb but they hold so much weight.

My grandma. She is all the wonderfulness that encompasses the word Grandma. Like music. Not just a song but a song accompanied by a symphony. The sweet, the playful, the big builds and soft controlled hush. That is her. Or at least that is her in my life.
My grandma. Granny Goose, Gram Cracker. The one who loves peaches from a can mixed with popcorn for desert, who would have strawberry ice cream with me (we both love strawberry ice cream). She shakes hands with every penny slot she meets. She smiles often. She is every ones biggest fan. Even if you cut her off in traffic she would let you know that you were #1 in her book hahaha. That is her.

The very fabric of my being is woven with threads of memories with her, long talks, lots of laughs, listening to stories of her life and her experiences, laughing at how my grandpa proposed, rides to school that went warp speed with a Hawaiian salute out the window, talking together about her living in the chicken coop, singing the jump on the bed song to all of us, rag curls in the girls hair, putting on shows in the basement that the adults would have to pay a nickel to get into. The house on 17th, all grandmas fight stories…what a tough little thing.

To hear about this sickness dropped a pile of lead into my heart. It’s easy to forget that grandparents are people to. And that people are strong in spirit but the body can be frail.

My grandma is a trooper and after speaking with her today, she sounds great, it put my heart at ease that she wasn’t in any pain and was laughing with me on the phone. I am proud of my grandma. I am blessed that I have her, that I have wonderful memories with her and my children have wonderful memories with her as well. My grandma has lived through many generations. She has seen a lot and experienced life. Not just survival…but life. I hope that by the time I am her age I will have as many wonderful stories and will have imparted so many wonderful things into my children and grandchildren as my grandma has with us.