The boys lost their great grandmother yesterday. They saw her in November, and I told them to take a selfie with her, and the picture is above. She lived a long life. She got to see her many great grand children. I don't know the exact count, but one obit lists it at 11.
She would tell cute stories of me when I was a kid. I used to pronounce "ladder" with a Y. So my grandfather said, "No, L Ladder." So I said, "L Yadder". That she was the repository for some of my childhood memory demonstrates her commitment to her grandson. She was a good grandmother. I can remember the food she made, and that she would take me to swim at the Sprayberry pool when I was a kid. I spent a month with my grandparents every summer growing up and I was truly enriched by it.
I remember once I saw the wedding picture of grandma, and I said to grandma, "you were pretty when you were young." She got a laugh out of that instead of feeling bad. I remember she would say the wrong name, and then repeat the wrong name as if to say "what was I thinking." She would go down the declension of the men in the family. "Ralph! Ralph? Zane! Zane? David! David? Stephen." As a kid I thought that was a pretty weird error, but now at my age of 47, I can totally see how that would happen. Spending time with my grandparents prepares me for my own old age that I hope to have.
She wasn't perfect, but she was a pretty pure person. The worst you could say about her was that some of her personality quirks could get at you sometimes. I hope that's the worst they could say about me at my funeral. This is my funeral too, because with her passing, so goes a part of me. My grandmother was part of my life, even though there were great distances throughout my life.
I remember holding her hand in November. The last thing she said to me was that she always thought it was her sister who was the strong one, but she's had to be strong, including the difficult of watching her partner of many many years disappear to Alzheimer's. I can't help but pair this loss with the loss of her partner's personality and memories, even though he's still here physically. Grandpa is playful in ways he wasn't. He used to be a pretty serious guy. Ralph and Liz were quite a couple, and I'm proud to have them as my grandparents. They shared their strengths and fortitude with me, and I'm forever enriched by them.
My aunt and uncle really helped the last years, as Ralph and Liz lost their powers, and I want to thank them so much for taking care of grandma and grandpa. I know it must have been challenging at times. I wish I had had more of that hassle, because now she is gone, and while I don't want her to suffer unnecessarily, I selfishly wish she were not gone. I'm going to miss you grandma.
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