Seventeen years ago today, on a bright Monday morning much like this one, my Grandma Dot’s life on this earth was over and she and flew away to Jesus.
It still makes me cry when I relive the suddenness of it all, the wailing sobs of my Pap-Paw, her husband of 67 years, and the regret that still haunts me for not spending more time with her that weekend. I had taken the Monday off and I was planning to spend the day with her in the hospital, except she passed around 6:00 that morning.
I had spent the weekend planting flowers, trying to work on curb appeal of the home we were about to list. I can still hear her voice reminding me, “they need watering...” (She and Pap-Paw lived up the street from us and he would often walk down and rescue my parched outdoor plants.)
Madison was in first grade and Jackson was about to turn 4. She loved her great-grandchildren and never missed a chance to see them! Unfortunately, she never got to meet Bryson. How he would have entertained her! From an active and talkative toddler (she loved to talk to people) to all his time spent on the baseball field, she would have eaten it all up! She loved watching baseball on TV! Even kept a little notepad of players, numbers, & stats! ️
She researched family history before delving into one’s
ancestry was cool. I wish I had asked
more questions and written down all the stories. She loved to play the organ
and created many beautiful items doing her handwork. If she crocheted you a
Christmas stocking, it meant you were officially in our family. ️
I was her only grandchild and we talked often, but I should have made time to visit more. I suppose most of us feel a certain amount of guilt when we experience death. We wish we had done more and said more.
If you’re blessed to still have your grandparents, slow down and make time for them. Time really is fleeting and life is truly a vapor. None of us are promised tomorrow. It all sounds cliché until it becomes real.
So today, as I celebrate her life and reflect on what I learned from her death, I'll leave you with her favorite passage of Scripture from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (KJV):
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
© Christy Long 2021. All Rights Reserved.
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