Memorial and Burial

On Memorial Day this year, Josh and I took an evening drive to town. On the way, we stopped at the cemetary to put a few artificial flowers on his Uncle Mike's and Grandpa Tolman's (aka Pa-ah's) graves. We placed the flowers on the graves, spent several minutes pondering, and then we wandered around the cemetary for a bit. And while we were there, I had the distinct impression that this would be the last Memorial Day that Pa-ah's grave would be alone. I felt that we would be placing flowers on both Pa-ah's AND Grandma Tolman's graves next year. Nine days later, Grandma Tolman passed away.

Grandma has been lonely for Pa-ah since he passed away in December of 2000. A few years after he died, she became ill and could no longer live at home alone. She has been residing in Assisted Living Centers in Blackfoot and Pocatello for the past 7 years. She's had several health issues, including strokes, heart problems, and complications from Diabetes. But ultimately, in the end, she lost the desire to live. She just missed Pa-ah so much, and wanted to be free from the pains of this life. 

She was buried in a beautiful baby blue casket in the Salmon cemetary, right between the love of her life Rex and her son Michael.

Grandma T. was always so good to remember to send us cards and gifts of money on our birthdays. Sometimes when she accidentally forgot, she was reminded when Aunt Janet would read our blog to her if it was about a birthday, and she'd send off a card right then! She used to tell me that she loved hearing all about my "facebook" from Aunt Janet. Really, she meant my blog, but she never could separate the two from each other! We will miss Grandma!