My aunt Donna sent me this photo a few weeks ago on Mother's Day. Polly and I had traveled to California over Labor Day weekend of 2015 to celebrate my Grandma Helen’s 100th birthday. (Almost 5 years later, Grandma Mary would be 100 today.)
This photo was taken on Sunday afternoon, the day after the party. I remember sitting alone with Grandma Mary that afternoon and chatting while she held my hand. Someone else had helpfully swept Polly up and taken her somewhere else—maybe Aunt Donna.
This would have been just another one of hundreds of visits, but I specifically remember it because it was the last intimate in-person conversation I had with her before her impending illness made it difficult to talk. We spoke on the phone fairly often, but there is nothing like an in-person snuggle. After this September visit, I saw her again in January, when I visited her house with all of my kids, and again in May, when I had just Polly with me, and then she died in June.
I am SO, so grateful for those frequent visits during the months and years leading up to her death, and for similarly frequent visits before my Grandma Helen’s death a year later. I’m trying not to dwell on the fact that we can’t visit our families the way we want to now. (If I haven’t mentioned it yet—ha!—we had some breathlessly spaced travel plans—just the way we like it—to visit California in April, Oregon in May, and Utah and California in June. All canceled now.)
And if you know Grandma Mary, you know very well that she would tell me not to fuss about it because it couldn’t be helped! Guess I’ll stop fussing!
1 comment:
She did love how you called her - and she was very observant about you when you were little. Many years later she would recount times she'd been with you and she had all the details right!
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