November 5, 2010

Life Goes On

My Grandma died last week.  She was a splendid grandma who lived to a ripe old age and invariably impressed my friends meeting her for the first time by waving her cane around and being up for anything.  When I was young she read to me by the hour, baked with me, sewed for me, drew pictures with me, played endless games with me and taught me the chapters of the Bible, which I can still recite. 

She was one of the most live and let live people I have ever known and after living almost a century had an incredibly balanced view of life.  Although she wasn't much for talking about her own younger days, she would occassionally chime into a gloomy conversation about the state of the world with upbeat comments about how she grew up with coal ovens, asbestos, polio, etc., and lived through both world wars. 

Life goes on, she would say.

She loved nothing so much as conversation, which made her final stroke especially sad.  She was a talented musician and pianist and trained as an opera singer at Vasser before she married her father's top seminary student and started a family.  She kept her voice well into her late 80s and her mental faculties until the very end.

She donated money to environment organizations and charities around the world and was a deeply spiritual person, although she never criticized me for concluding that organized religion is a load of hooey.

She was a fine looking carrot top in her younger years and bequeathed me my redhead complexion, my robust peasant girl build and certain angles in my face.

She was so pleased about Gerhard.  Or Rocco.  Or James Tiberius.  I wish she could have met him. 

Here are my grandparents.  These pictures were taken when they were younger than Ralf and me, which kind of makes you go, hmmmn.  But you can see where I get my good looks.


Good bye, Grandma.  Thank you for taking such good care of me all my life.  I'll miss you and will never forget you.  Part of you will still be with us every day.

Love,
Laura

20 comments:

  1. I'm so sorry to hear about your grandmother. She was beautiful, clearly inside and out.

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  2. What a wonderful tribute to your grandmother. I am sure the lessons you learned from her will be passed down to the next generation. You sure do resemble her.

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  3. I'm so sorry to hear about your grandmother - and yet part of me is happy that she led such a full, long life and touched many lives, including yours.

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  4. I'm sorry to hear the news. How lucky you were to have such a strong presence in your life, and how lucky she was to have such a wonderful caring granddaughter. Keeping you in my thoughts.

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  5. I'm sorry for your loss. She sounds like a truly amazing person.

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  6. Sorry to hear about your Grandmother, she sounds lovely
    xoxo
    SC

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  7. I'm so terribly sorry. I'm glad you have the photos of them when they were young and that you shared them. She sounds like she had a very caring, generous nature.

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  8. I feel very bad that your granny died last week, but one day every one have to leave this world. Always see the better side of life.

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  9. What a beautiful tribute - she sounds like an amazing woman.

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  10. I'm so sorry for your loss. I love this beautiful tribute to your beautiful grandmother.

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  11. That was a beautiful tribute indeed. She sounded wonderful. You said her final stroke was especially sad, did you mean she lost the ability to have conversations? How sad for her.

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  12. Yes, that was a very nice tribute. What a great person to have had in your life.

    May she rest in peace.

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  13. You look a lot like her. I'd like to think she's read your kind tribute.

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  14. I'm so sorry! Your Grandma sounds like she was a very special person!

    I like Lawyer Mom's comment-- I'm sure your Grandma would be very touched to read how much you meant to her!

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  15. I feel really very sorry for the great loss, your grandma seems to be the most special person in your life but I feel life surely goes on, one day everyone has to go na...

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  16. Wonderful tribute ... love to you Laura.

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  17. Thank you everyone for your kind wishes. This is exactly the kind of discourse and community support my grandma would have loved.

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  18. What about William.
    Congrats BTW.

    And my sympathy on your loss. You do look a bit like the woman in the photos. But shouldn't there be another two someplace. Don't we need four.

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  19. I'm sorry about grandma. I remember losing my grandparents and how sad I was at that time. I enjoyed reading about yours.

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