Grandma E

My Grandma Emens passed away this weekend, my mother's mother.

I don't have a lot to say about this right now, but before I get on a plane tomorrow with my four week old baby to go celebrate her life, I wanted to record a few thoughts. These are the things that initially stand out to me from my grandchild perspective, obviously different from a peer relationship, but special nonetheless.

- Grandma was great with babies. She was very natural with them, would hold them on her lap and just pat their bottom as she talked to you. She would make faces at them and was very unruffled when they would cry. She didn't panic or make you feel bad; she just kept patting and talking to them, and things got better.

- Grandma was down to earth, but valued her family greatly. I missed my Grandpa's funeral, and my sister did too, because he passed away when the twins were first born. Christa was here with me. Grandma was insistent that this was exactly where we were supposed to be. She was so glad Christa was here caring for me, and she very clearly made it known that she was completely fine that we both missed the services. We might not have been, but she was, and she very lovingly and firmly told us that.

- Grandma was a faithful wife. She made a pie pretty much nightly for her husband, for who knows how many years (Grandpa loved his pie). She cared for him as his health was failing, and would have stayed home caring for him until the end, had it been only up to her.

- Grandma wasn't a fancy person and didn't have an extravagant life, but she seemed very content. When we would visit her, our days were very routine. We had breakfast, we played cards, we watched Price is Right, we had lunch, we rested, we had dinner, we watched Wheel of Fortune, we went to bed. She never seemed like she wanted anything fancier for her life.

- Grandma was a great cook - I would gladly eat her noodles and angel food cake every day for the rest of my life.

- Grandma was insistent that I write the names and dates on the back of every picture I gave her. She scolded me once when I neglected to do this. It is a habit that I will do my best to continue. She also scolded me once when I stopped by her independent living apartment to drop off some flowers close to the anniversary of Grandpa's death. I knew it was her rest time, and I had knocked lightly and she hadn't come to the door. I left the flowers and the note from Christa and I, and I left. She called and let me know, very clearly, that it was always okay for me to wake her up, and never okay for me to stop by without saying hi. Not to make it seem like she was also scolding, but I can also remember a few times where I was reminded that thank you notes were the appropriate response to a gift and even one phone call checking to make sure I had actually gotten a gift since no thank you note was received. (I wish I could say that this was one habit that she instilled in me, but I clearly still struggle with this.)

- Grandma wrote me a note once that I will never forget. It didn't say much, only about 4 lines. One of them said this, "your mother would be proud." That was all she needed to say.

I'm so glad my grandmother was able to hold two of my babies, and so glad that my third baby will be with me as we grieve her death and celebrate her life this week. I'm also blessed to be able to spend some time with my three remaining grandparents and introduce them to my sweet Jocelyn. Life is fleeting.

(On a side note, I have no idea what my "sweet" Jocelyn will choose to do during the funeral service. I am reminded of Curt's grandfather's funeral, which was when I was pregnant with the twins. There were a couple of babies there, and one of them was making some noise. This didn't phase me, but it extremely encouraged Curt. He loved the reminder that with each death, there are also new lives. Curt's grandfather's legacy lived on in those little cries at the funeral service that day. We'll see if Jocelyn chooses to bless others with that reminder as well.)