A lot has happened over the past few weeks. Good things and bad things, but today in my post I want to talk about the bad news I received a little over two weeks ago. My dad called me with information that I didn't want to hear. I was having a good time. It was the start of the semester, and I didn't (or at least was attempting to not) have a care in the world.
The first blow was that my sister-in-law Nicole had miscarried (I hope you don't mind me writing about this Nicole). My heart dropped because I had seen how excited that Joey and Nicole had been in anticipation of this baby. They had taken precautions with not telling the whole world because they knew that during the first few months of pregnancy is when the baby is the most vulnerable to miscarriage. I felt like before I left both of them were starting to let the idea of a baby settle in and stay there.
Then, he went on to tell me that my mom was in Redding with my Grandma Lois and my grandma was not expected to live through the night. Her kidney and heart was failing. She did live for a few more days. She died on January 8, 2011 at 3a.m.
This news did not affect me as much as you would expect, and I don't want to seem cold and heartless, but my Grandma has not been my grandma for some time. When I was about 10, grandma needed her kidney replaced along with having strokes that damaged her brain function. After that, she wasn't fun to be around. I would dread having to be around her (again, I sound like a horrible person). The last time I saw her she knew who I was when I was there, asking me specific questions about school and the nursing program, but as soon as I left she had no idea who I was.
I wish I could have been able to go to the funeral on the fourteenth of January. It would have been nice to see family, but I couldn't make it because of school and a last minute plane ticket to California would have been another expense my parents would have paid for.
I'm writing about this today because this morning while sitting in the Manwaring Center, not having much to do because I forgot some needed essentials to do homework back at my apartment, I googled my grandma. Not surprisingly, it came up with her obituary, and I feel like I have no idea who she was. I had to find out through the internet that she and my grandpa Merle were high school sweethearts! How pathetic is that! Just by reading the obit I found out more about her life than in my eighteen years that I have known her.
Here is what I do know. She was loving and compassionate. There is a memory I have of her that I want to share. I remember when I was younger that anytime I was at the the amazing home of her and her second husband, Wally (before they faced health issues), I would always have homemade strawberry freezer jam and toast for breakfast. It was my favorite, and she knew and would make sure that I had that breakfast. Another thing I know is that she was a great woman because she raised my mom who is one of the most selfless and sweetest people I know, and I love her.
I also know that she is reunited with her loved ones the went before her. I know that she is with my grandpa Merle who did not receive the blessings of the gospel in this life, but was given the oppurtunity to receive them in the hereafter. I never met him because he died of melanoma when my mom was twenty, but I wish I had because the only comments that I have heard about him have painted him as a hardworking, gentle, and kind man. The kind of grandpa any girl would wish for.
I know that I will see grandma Lois and any other love ones that I have lost or will lose. I will meet him, and I can't wait for that day!
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