A Special Lady

This past Wednesday, my grandmother passed away. The doctors aren't exactly sure what happened, but they think she probably had a heart attack the week before. Today was her funeral, and it was a lovely service. I was very proud of my dad, and the words he spoke of her, and how he has handled her passing with such grace and love. We had a reception afterwards, which seemed strange to me at first- I had never been to a reception for a funeral, or at least hadn't heard it called that. But it was a really neat time as it gave us a chance to really talk with the people who had come. It felt so appropriate to have that time of fellowship and joy, as a funeral of a believer is really a celebration. I left with much more hope and gladness than any other funeral I have been to.

We've spent all of this weekend sharing stories, some of which I had never even heard, and just enjoying being together as a family. We have a small family, but a great one just the same. By far the coolest thing of the weekend was watching a slide show that the funeral home made of Gama's life. They made an entire webpage for her and if you select "movie" you can watch the it. You'll even find a few of me in there. My favorite is about the 3rd picture in, where she is wearing a white, ruffled shirt. When I was little I always thought that she looked like an angel in that picture.

If I could use one word to describe Gama, it would be strong. She was a very determined person and lived through some very, very hard times. But despite the hardships, she kept keeping on, and she is now enjoying her eternal reward with Jesus. My dad likes to point out in the slide show you can see that her smiles got bigger and bigger the older she got, especially after he married my mom and Laura and I were born.

It is very strange to think that I won't see her at my parents house again and that she won't be in any pictures anymore. But I know that she is smiling even bigger now, and that there is much rejoicing. We will miss her, and we will long for the day to see her again.