Sad loss

[draconis]

As gryphonrhi mentioned elseJournal, it's been a real rollercoaster of a week. As if life wasn't already "interesting" enough, we unexpectedly lost her grandmother today.

I almost never use this icon. I honestly don't even remember what I had in mind when I made it, but it seems appropriate now. It seems to share some of the qualities that always come to mind when I think of her: graceful. Always poised, without ever seeming posed. Always with a smile, and eyes that saw more than most people realized.

She had a keen mind, and wasn't afraid to ignore convention in favor of what she felt was right. I remember when her church got a new minister, a woman whose first sermon was to introduce herself and inform the congregation of her interracial same-sex relationship. Rather than follow those who left that church, she decided to give the new minister a chance, and based her decision to stay on the quality of the sermons rather than the external characteristics of the minister's partner.

Nor was she ever one to suffer fools gladly -- more than one member of the family felt the sharpness of her tongue when they'd done something particularly unwise. Even then, they knew they'd earned her disappointment, but never doubted that they still had her love.

But I suspect that one of the things that will forever be associated with her, for me and the rest of her family (and yes, she made it very clear that I was family, too) were her picnics. She actually managed to find a way to deal with feeding a decent-sized family gathering that left no one with cause to complain that they didn't like what was being served. I knew her for 20 years, and to the best of my knowledge, any family gathering that included her meant that one meal would be one of her picnics. They became a family institution, and I hope they will continue.

She was one of those people that you couldn't help but like, and she had a heart that showered love on those around her. She was a fine lady, and it was my privilege to share this earth with her for as long as I did. Heaven knows she more than earned a rest, but she will be sorely missed.

Comments

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

*hug*

I am so sorry for your loss.

[(Anonymous)]

{{hug}} "I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter."

[maygra.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry. She sounds wonderful.

[raine-wynd.livejournal.com]

She sounds like she was a Force to Reckoned With. My deepest condolences, querido.

[shrewreader.livejournal.com]

oh, no.

I'm so sorry. I know how much she meant to both of you; please pass my condolences on to Rhi. Be sure to let us know if there's anything we can do.

[devohoneybee.livejournal.com]

May her memory be a blessing. Sounds like her life was. *hugs*

[mzlizzy.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry for your loss.


*hugs*

Take care of each other.

[irishkate.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry for your loss, I understand what it is like to lose someone like that. I hope the years you did have with her and the memories she left help.

[eponin10.livejournal.com]

I'm so very sorry for your loss. Pass my condolences on to Rhi, if you would? *sends hugs for both of you*

Condolences to both...

[(Anonymous)]

My condolences on Your loss. I know what it feels like to lose a loved one. This prayer seemed fitting based on the descriptions I have heard of the wonderful presence your grandmother was here on earth...

I give you this one thought to keep,
I am with you still, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grains,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not think of me as gone,
I am with you still in each new dawn.
- Native American Prayer

[laure-nar.livejournal.com]

Hugs, My thoughts and prayers are with you both. She sounded like a great lady. And their is no other way, to me, to know just how much you are really in the "family" is there??? Grandparents are something special.