Sunday, October 15, 2006

Grandma Giggles

"What are you doing here?", Grandma Giggles asked my dad five years ago to the date. She told him he wasn't supposed to be here and she needed to find Gary. My Grandma was confused, thought she was in heaven, and wondered where Grandpa was. She was still on earth, but not for long. She died a couple hours later. Seems like an eternity ago, seems like only yesterday.

Grandpa died in February and Grandma never really recovered. More than that, she did not want to live without him. She would be alone and just feel his presence in the room. She spent six long months waiting out life. There really was no medical reason for her death- she just lost the will to live once he passed. I miss them both so much because they were the best Grandparents. Grandma got her name because she had this resounding belly chuckle that made everyone in the room happy, and laugh right long with her. They both lived their lives for Christ in every way- they exemplified what true Christians should be. It was not uncommon for them to let total strangers borrow their car, take a neighbor to get groceries, help out at the Guiding Light, or send one of us fifty bucks in the mail "just to go out with family and be together". Family was of utmost importance to them. All fifty of us even donned our blue "Van's Clan" shirts every other year and flew down to Disney for a trip on them.

I blog about this because I am what I am today because of my Grandparents. Grandpa and Grandma taught me how to love God and serve him by serving others. I wish they got to meet Kayden. Thankfully Kayden has grandparents in his life that will be the same example as I had.

No comments: