Love, Loss and Life
I know I haven't posted in what seems like ages and I know there are things that people have been hoping I would write about - my 30th birthday - my trip to Greece - general adventures in and around DC. Those things are going to have to wait, and truth be told probably never get written up. Today I have lots of other things on my mind. Too many to really put into words. Today I want to touch on the beauty that is a family in grief. I know that sounds odd, but that's really what grief is - beautiful. It is a pure and sincere expression of love that guides a departed soul on it's journey back to God. And that was never more apparent to me than this past week.
Last Saturday my grandmother passed away at the age of 82. This was not unexpected but was still not easy for any of us to take. She's been fading away from us for about 7 years but she is the center and the rock of our family, even still. She was a woman who could see incredible beauty in the most worn out, run down things. She could turn a bag of ripped up sheets and cloth into the most amazing quilt you've ever seen. She was thrifty and not afraid of working hard and she taught us that the results were always worth it. She loved unconditionally and would sacrifice anything she had to see a smile on the face of someone she loved. She gave to everyone around her and understood how important it is to look after others. She believed in doing and teaching us to do the RIGHT thing, no matter the perceived cost. She taught us how to listen, how to learn, how to survive, how to be compassionate, how to work hard and mostly how to love fiercely.
My gran leaves behind an INCREDIBLE legacy in her 9 living children (and our beloved Auntie who she is with now), 22 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren. In this day and age it may be hard to believe but we are one big crazy close, loving family. We would lay down our lives, and go to the ends of the earth for each other and all because of how much she loved us. My gran touched the lives of so many people in so many ways and although she lived, worked and loved in a very small Canadian town her influence has been carried around the world - more than once. Standing in the funeral home at her visitation one had only to look around the room to see the depths of the love and devotion in the faces of her family. We were grieving, very much, but we were also sharing memories and thoughts and stories of the happiness and the craziness that she brought into our lives. There was just as much laughter in the room as there were tears.
That's what I mean about the beauty of grief. Losing our Gran was definitely hard but it was so incredible to see the love that she inspired in all of us. We are all better people because of what our mothers and fathers learned from her, what we learned from them (and her) and therefore what we will be able to teach our children. Without her insistence that we all stay together we would surely have drifted off as so many families do as we grow up and move on with our own lives. But we're not, we were all there... all 58 of us. We were all hugging and crying and laughing and praying and eating and singing together, and we always will be.
I know with all of my heart that my Gran is in a better place. She's happy and smiling and laughing. She's probably dancing with Auntie, cursing out Grandpa, and figuring out how to wrap up the world in a warm, loving, homemade embrace. At the cemetery my aunt spoke of her mom and how she touched all of our hearts, my sisters sang her on her way to heaven with a strength only she could have given them, and my cousin's little boy looked up at his aunt and said of his GG - "I am really going to miss her". Yes, Connor, we all will.
Love you Gran!! Watch over us and kick us in the arse now and again!!
Last Saturday my grandmother passed away at the age of 82. This was not unexpected but was still not easy for any of us to take. She's been fading away from us for about 7 years but she is the center and the rock of our family, even still. She was a woman who could see incredible beauty in the most worn out, run down things. She could turn a bag of ripped up sheets and cloth into the most amazing quilt you've ever seen. She was thrifty and not afraid of working hard and she taught us that the results were always worth it. She loved unconditionally and would sacrifice anything she had to see a smile on the face of someone she loved. She gave to everyone around her and understood how important it is to look after others. She believed in doing and teaching us to do the RIGHT thing, no matter the perceived cost. She taught us how to listen, how to learn, how to survive, how to be compassionate, how to work hard and mostly how to love fiercely.
My gran leaves behind an INCREDIBLE legacy in her 9 living children (and our beloved Auntie who she is with now), 22 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren. In this day and age it may be hard to believe but we are one big crazy close, loving family. We would lay down our lives, and go to the ends of the earth for each other and all because of how much she loved us. My gran touched the lives of so many people in so many ways and although she lived, worked and loved in a very small Canadian town her influence has been carried around the world - more than once. Standing in the funeral home at her visitation one had only to look around the room to see the depths of the love and devotion in the faces of her family. We were grieving, very much, but we were also sharing memories and thoughts and stories of the happiness and the craziness that she brought into our lives. There was just as much laughter in the room as there were tears.
That's what I mean about the beauty of grief. Losing our Gran was definitely hard but it was so incredible to see the love that she inspired in all of us. We are all better people because of what our mothers and fathers learned from her, what we learned from them (and her) and therefore what we will be able to teach our children. Without her insistence that we all stay together we would surely have drifted off as so many families do as we grow up and move on with our own lives. But we're not, we were all there... all 58 of us. We were all hugging and crying and laughing and praying and eating and singing together, and we always will be.
I know with all of my heart that my Gran is in a better place. She's happy and smiling and laughing. She's probably dancing with Auntie, cursing out Grandpa, and figuring out how to wrap up the world in a warm, loving, homemade embrace. At the cemetery my aunt spoke of her mom and how she touched all of our hearts, my sisters sang her on her way to heaven with a strength only she could have given them, and my cousin's little boy looked up at his aunt and said of his GG - "I am really going to miss her". Yes, Connor, we all will.
Love you Gran!! Watch over us and kick us in the arse now and again!!
posted by Jo | 5:36 PM
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