Yesterday an important person left this earth

[dvh]

I am posting this as Katy made a post a week or so ago about childhood memories- so many flooded back at that time and even more yesterday.

My grandma basically raised me, after she moved to Florida when I was in 6th grade my parents had a tough time- NO money, even less after my dad left when I was 15. She made sure I had everything I needed- clothes, food, pocket money, I never went without.

3 years ago my brother and myself moved our grandparents back home into a nursing home. It was the first time in 20 years that I could see them more than once a year and did not worry about them.

She wouldn't have wanted to live the past 5 years, not being able to finish sentences, not remembering people (she was suffering from Alzheimers), feeling like a burden when she was lucid- but she felt happiness when around happy people. She knew me always and I was the only one (even my grandpa escaped her memory at times).

When I was 7 she typed the Lords Prayer and the 23rd Psalm on an index card, we said them both every night, and I continued to rcite them alone after she moved. I knelt at her bed yesterday, held her lifeless hand and recited both. I had prayed for the Lord to take her home for over a year and I am thankful she left this earth peacefully and without pain.

I lost a good part of her years ago, today I lost the rest and I am at peace, and feel thankful for her influence on my life.

The hardest part was telling my grandfather, which I insisted on doing rather than the nursing staff. It is hard watching the most powerful man you remember while growing up breakdown in pain.

" A time to live, a time to die.......................and for everything, a purpose under heaven"

It is all good, I'm just spending the day appreciating her memory, we all go through it many times in a full life.

[TheDudeAbides]

Very nice post. Your thoughts remind me a of my grandfather, who went through a similar ordeal his last five years on earth. RIP.

[katyseagull]

Nice post, dvh. That was very moving. I like it when people are willing to share stories of loved ones who have had an impact on their life.

[Myrtle]

A loss such as yours is truly sorrowful and will take a while to get past.

But, get past it you will.........

I can't help but think that she taught you many good things, and that perhaps the best way that you can honor her life is to pass on what you learned from her.

She'd probably smile if she knew that, wouldn't she?

[ChipWrecked]

Thanks for posting this. Condolences to you. Good memories never die.

[boscoboy]

nice post - sorry for your loss

[SoloAJ]

[ QUOTE ]
The hardest part was telling my grandfather, which I insisted on doing rather than the nursing staff. It is hard watching the most powerful man you remember while growing up breakdown in pain.

[/ QUOTE ]

I remember something like this when my grandpa died. He wasn't the greatest person to me, but it was entirely shocking when he wasn't strong enough to not die...or something.

Sorry to hear about your loss, but it sounds like things are stable if you're at peace. Condolences.