Blessing of Grandparents

Today, as I prayed for Elvett Brown and his family, my heart cried for them. What a heart breaking time it is...to lose someone so precious in your family. They are bittersweet moments as we kiss them goodbye from this world....and send them off with a grand Hurrah to the next. I remember standing around my Grandpa's bed and singing him into heaven, in essence. I remember praying that God would have mercy on him and take him home quickly so that he wouldn't suffer any longer. And at the same time, I wanted to cling to him and beg him to stay with me longer.

I remember feeling that way when my Grandma was dieing. I remember telling God that I wasn't finished with her yet. I still had so much I wanted to share with my Grandma. My sister has this wonderful picture of my Grams and Gramps holding newborn Kyle. Those looks of love on their faces are something that I am envious of. I wanted so much to be able to lay my own newborn children in their arms and have their blessing over them. Gramps was there to see my babies, but not Grams. Sometimes, in my mind, I imagine that picture is Grams with my babies. (dagnabit...I'm making myself cry!) Yet, even as I long for them to be here, I imagine they are having a glorious time in heaven with Jesus.

Grandparents are a blessing. At least mine were. I have a lot of wonderful memories. My Grams was a lot of fun. I don't remember her playing around with me like my Mom does with my kids. I just remember loving being with her. Maybe it was that Love thing. I have a couple of pictures of my Grams that, to me, epitomize the way I felt when I was with my Grams. One of the pictures is just a little tiny thing...something like 2 inches by 2 inches. I think my Mom told me it was taken on my first birthday. I'm not sure...my hair is awfully long! Anyway....Grams is holding me and the way she is looking at me just tells me that I was loved. I love this picture. I keep meaning to have this picture framed somehow so that it doesn't get ruined. The other picture really isn't a very good picture at all. Grams is kind of sitting in the background. It was taken on my graduation. I am examining my gift...and Grams has this look of glee on her face. She is so excited. I really wish it was a better picture because the look on her face captures the feeling I would get when I would see her. She was excited to see me....she was excited with my accomplishments.

I remember Grams taking my sister and I for milkshakes on the days that she would take us to piano lessons. I don't know if Mom ever knew....but we thought it was fun. Grams always ordered butterscotch. She loved her dogs, too. I remember when we would get ice cream cones....the dog would get a lick....Grams a lick...the dog a lick...Grams a lick. Ugh. I think that sticks in my memory because I thought it was gross. I remember playing "doctor" with Grams. My sister and I would have a big bottle of Vaseline lotion and washcloths. I am positive we used at least half a bottle "doctoring" Grams legs. (We really just gave her these grand leg massages!! We had fun, though!!) I remember spending a week with Grams and Gramps in Kamiah, Idaho. I can't say it was the most rip-roaring good time I ever had, but it ranks high in my memory bank. Grams and I did jigsaw puzzles together.

I have a lot of good memories of Gramps, too. He really was quite the character. I can't begin to tell you how many years it took me to quit answering the question: "How old are you anyway?" Fell for it every time. I remember the summer that Gramps made a swing set in the trees in their front yard. If I remember right, my sister and I were staying with them for some reason. It was so exciting to watch that come together. One thing that stands out about that was the trial run on the rope swing. My aunt Jan landed on her bum when the rope broke! Yikes! We spent lots of hours out there. (Push me higher, Daddy, I want to touch the tree branches!) I also remember Thanksgivings being torturous as we all had to go around the table to say why we were thankful. It wouldn't have been so bad if there weren't a gazillion of us....and we had to sit there in front of all that yummy food. Then, Gramps would give his annual lengthy Thanksgiving prayer. Torture, I tell you, torture!

I know that I was lucky to have my grandparents with me for as long as I did. Even though I am blessed with happy memories, I still wish that I could have had them with me longer. I miss them so much sometimes.....like today. They were most definitely a blessing in my life. I love watching my parents with my kids.....that too is a blessing. I cherish all of that in my heart.

Thank you for your prayers for my friend and her family. This time will someday become precious in her memories, too.....even though now it is very difficult.