I know I have been pretty silent here for a minute, now today you get two posts. Like I said last week, I was going through the loss of the most amazing woman I have ever met.
Was my grandmother perfect, well no…but she was perfectly Mary. She has always been a pillar of Faith and Spirituality in my life. She was always supportive and loving. She was beautifully humble, a little stubborn, and the most loving and caring person I know.
My grandmother was missing from my childhood because of choices that others made, but once she was back in my life, she did every single thing she could to be a constant source of love and light in my world. She and I would spend entire weekends at the downtown library skimming through microfilm images of census records, birth certificates, death certificates, and the like. She loved my children with a love so true and pure that they will never forget it.
For the last several weeks of her life, my beautiful grandmother would only speak the Lord’s Prayer. Her faithful friends would call and pray with her and read to her. Family, including her children’s ex-spouses came to visit. Several of us camped out beside her, wanting her to feel as loved in those last moments as she had made us feel for all of our lives.
I feel so blessed. How many people get to keep their beloved grandparents into adulthood, much less middle age? Selfishly, I am sad that I won’t be receiving her usual birthday card in the mail for my birthday in a few weeks, but oh how I am rejoicing for her. The words of MercyMe’s Homesick have never rung more true for me than they do now.
You’re in a better place
I’ve heard a thousand times
And at least a thousand times
I’ve rejoiced for youBut the reason why I’m broken
The reason why I cry
Is how long must I wait to be with youI close my eyes and I see your face
If home’s where my heart is then I’m out of place
Lord, won’t you give me strength
To make it through somehow
I’ve never been more homesick than now
The Bible says in Proverbs 31:31 “Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.” I hope that I can honor her legacy and continue to live my life in a way that honors the love she poured into me. I am so blessed to have been so incredibly loved in my life. I will carry the lessons she shared with me and hope to pass them on to future generations.
It is my prayer that when I am gone, those around me will feel as loved as I have. Even though they won’t get the chance to meet her, I hope that my grandchildren will know her love because I passed it onto them.
Thank you Grandma, for loving me and for being so very perfectly Mary. I love you for always!