My husband‘s grandmother passed away this week. She was 97 years old. I read over the memorial information and was shocked to see that she had been born the same year as my own dear mother. 1915. My mother passed away in 1997 at the age of 81. It got me thinking that 1915 was a special year indeed that produced these two special women.
1915 is almost a century ago. A century! This women lived through so many of the worlds changes. It staggers the mind to go back and think of how much she had seen. Two world wars, the roaring twenties, the great depression. The dropping of the atom bombs. Hitler. Several hundred inventions that changed everything.
Unbelievable to me to live so long. I just remember a very tiny woman with a big personality and a huge smile that took up her whole face. She seemed to love her family very much and was so proud of her two girls. It has been hard on my mother n law and her twin sister so very much. They did everything possible to take care of their ailing mother. She spent the last several years of her life in a nursing home. Her once sharp mind disintegrating with dementia. There were many times she did not know who people were. But she always seemed happy to see whoever came to see her, even if she couldn’t really remember who they were. She would ask over and over who you were and you could see her trying so hard to reach for that memory of recognition. It was sad to watch and sadder to go through.
We don’t know how long we have on this earth. I often wonder why some people go out so quickly and others seem to linger and suffer for so long. I think it’s not really that they have a life lesson to learn but possibly the people that are around them do. The caregivers. The caregivers get lost in the caring for the loved one. It takes a hard toll on them .For they have to make hard choices for a loved one that they see slipping away from them a little at a time. At times a caregiver will wish that the suffering will end only to at once wish that they will have one more day. Once the loved one no longer knows who they are there is not much comfort to be had.
Now is a time of reflection for my husband and his family to look back at the life of this women and what she meant to each and every one of them. When my husband tells me about her, the very first thing he mentions is what a strong woman she was. That is always the first thing he says. What a great memory of him to have of a very prominate woman in his life, one of strength.
As I enter into a stage of my life where I will become a grandmother this year I want to be that special person to my grandchild. Build memories with them. Teach them things that only I can, that their own parents have not learned yet themselves. Grandparents are able to pass on a certain type of love to a child. Its wisdom and caring that their own parents may not have the time to give them. Heritage and wisdom. I so look forward to bringing that type of relationship to my future grandchild. I want my husband to form a bond with this new grandchild so that he can see how it feels to feel that connection from birth on.
Rest in peace Grandma Scholes. Say hello to my mom. Play some cards with her, or some trivia. My mom was awesome at that. I just know you two great women will love each other.
beautiful mama.
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