We got a call earlier this week that Grandma Marge's health had started declining rapidly. At that point, we knew we wouldn't be making our yearly trip to Iowa in March to visit her... we would be making the trip sooner to say our final goodbye. Each year as we left her, we wondered if it was the last time we would get to see her smile or hear her tell everyone at the nursing home that this was her grandson Mike from Georgia and his family. "And my what a family" is what she would always add.
For many years, our family vacation has been traveling to Iowa to spend time with Grandma. We wanted our kids to know their great-Grandma Marge. Once when we went up, she was so proud of herself. She had bought two pouting babies and put one in each corner by the bathroom door. She informed Mike and me that we could NOT put Andrew and Laura in the corner for timeout, because the corners were already occupied. She was with us when we took Andrew for his first trip to the zoo. She was as excited as he was to go. She was always telling Mike just how much like his Grandpa Ray he looked. She loved getting out the pictures or taking a ride all over the countryside telling us all about her childhood. I hope my long term memory is that good when I am her age.
When she had to go into the nursing home, she made sure that we knew she had a house waiting on us whenever we wanted to visit. Each time we went up, it was just like home. We would go sit in her room at the nursing home, and she would count the kids over and over. She would watch them as they played and laugh at their silliness. She would love on the new great-grandbaby we were introducing her to for the first time. I thank God that she was able to meet each of our kids. Even though some of them won't remember her, we will have pictures and stories to share about how much she loved on them when she was living.
Please remember our entire family as we travel to Iowa to say goodbye to a very special lady in our lives. Love you bunches!
1 comment:
You're in my prayers.
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