Where are you now, Grandma? I see you softly drifting on the brink, curling into the filmy line between this world and the next.
Today I said good-bye to you for the last time. Inadequate and impossible. How does anyone express the enormity of a lifetime of love? The vastness of gratitude? All whittled down to tender whispers and gentle teardrops.
Not one word is enough to describe how extraordinary you were. You cherished us like no other, you were blind to our faults, and you lavished us with affection. Your signature embrace was fierce. We were squeezed so tight there was never any doubt we were loved. We were loved to the core.
You lived a full and generous life. Overcoming the hardest start, resolving to mend it all with love. If I could unstitch time, I wish I could have changed your beginning, and given the dignity and love you deserved. I hope in some small measure I have given you this at your end.
Today I kissed your pale cheek and remembered the joyfulness of your spirit. Today I looked into your nearly closed eyes and remembered the sparkle they once had. Forever you are my beautiful blue-eyed grandma, beaming with joy.
Today as you moaned I longed for your comfort. I barely caught your last words to me. A mumbled sentence. But I heard you. I don’t want to be in pain any more.
Grandma, we are calling to you in the half-light. Can you hear us? We love you. But you can go softly now. May you be greeted with warm arms of magnificent love. Beautiful strong Joyce, sweet relief is on its way.
