Grandma Hare

My Grandma Hare died yesterday.  It was really a tremendous blessing.  She has been suffering from the ill effects of Alzheimer's Disease, losing her mental faculties.  In addition, of late she has been wasting away.  She was really just skin and bones.  On Sunday we fasted as a family for her release from this mortal life, and on Monday her hospice care provider informed my mom that Grandma was dying.  She passed away quietly early Tuesday afternoon.

I went up to be with her on Monday night.  I sat with my mom, Aunt Georgianne, Uncle Tom and Aunt Darlene. I held Grandma's hand and cried.  She looked so awful.  Her breathing was shallow, her color was bad, and she just stared blankly into space, never blinking.  But someone had done her nails that day, and they looked beautiful.  Everything else had essentially shut down.  She did not resemble at all the vibrant, active, flamboyant grandmother I have known all my life and that I have been missing for a couple of years now.

I am so happy that she has finished her time on Earth and has moved on.  I know that her spirit is whole and well, that she is enjoying a wonderful reunion with her siblings and her parents.  I learned tonight that my great-grandfather, her father, died when she only two.  She never knew him.  She must have been so happy to throw her arms around him, reunited after a long life.

It has been sweet for me to reflect on the example my grandma set for me.  She was devoted to family, church, and her neighbors.  She was generous with her time and means, and she was intelligent and funny.  She was also opinionated, strong-willed, and adamant about most everything.  I see her in my little Blythe who is full of the same sort of personality.  I am grateful for the fun times I had with Grandma traveling, baking, shopping, and talking.

I will miss Grandma as I miss my other grandparents.  She was our last grandparent; the end of a generation.  Each of my grandparents has been special to me and I rejoice in knowing that I will see them again.  I hope to be as good a grandparent as I have had.