Tender Moments

Ammon told me after I informed him of Grandma Perkins' death, "I'm glad I got to meet her before she died." Then he was quiet for a minute, and said "Actually, I'm glad I got to meet her before she had her stroke" (sadly, he only remembers Aunt Candi after her stroke because he was too young to remember her from before it). I, too, was glad for our recent summer trip to Spokane. Ammon was fortunate to spend two additional vacation days there with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa.

Micah pulled Great-Grandpa by the hand and led him to the casket at the mortuary. He pointed to Grandma's body and told Grandpa "Look, there's Grandma. Her legs are under there (pointing to the closed half of the casket)". This was the tenderest of moments for me, as I watched my Grandpa and my son holding hands adoring Great Grandma.
(Jonah and Micah were concerned about her legs being missing because they couldn't see them. I think they thought it was like a magician's box that you can disappear in.)

Jonah saw her in the casket and said "She looks different. Where's her glasses?" The other boys noticed the absence of her glasses as well. At the cemetary, Jonah was very hesitant about placing a rose on her casket. He was afraid he would trip and fall in the rectangular hole underneath it. I held his hand so that he could do it, and he was the last to put a rose on there for his Great Grandma.

I will never forget what transpired this last week...family closeness and togetherness , and love felt and expressed, through: traveling hours and hours to reach multiple memorial destinations, singing "How Great Thou Art", holding my grandma's hand, wrapping my arms around my grandpa, reassuring my dad, comforting my mom, listening to my sisters, laughing with all my siblings, enjoying company of cousins and close family at lunch, perusing family albums, seeing photographs of my grandma in her younger years, hearing my grandpa talk of his past and sharing his sorrow. What a week, a long and glorious week, all to celebrate the life my Grandmother lived. An honorable, commendable, exemplary life. I am so privileged to have had this one-of-a-kind woman as my grandma!
(photo courtesy of Trina)