After a long battle with cancer (although it was not her first battle with it), one of Eric’s Grandmothers passed away on Friday.
Eric’s “Grandmom” (as they all called her, though I admit that I always just said Grandma) lived about 40 minutes from us, and I’ll admit that we didn’t see her nearly as often as we probably should have. It is probably through God’s grace then that she spent almost two weeks near the end of her life here on Earth at a facility that was very close to our house. As a matter of fact, it was even a facility that one of my Grandmothers is at — they ended up right across the hall from one another!
So, in a nice twist, we ended up over those couple of weeks often stopping by to see both of them. (My Grandma had been there just a few days when his Grandmom arrived, so that was the perfect encouragement for me to finally go see my Grandma too!)
We were able to see Grandmom several times during her time there, and it was obvious that her time with us with nearing closer to the end. And, in her last week, she was with one of her younger sisters (at her home) with hospice care. Eric and I prayed many times during this that her time to pass would come quickly and peacefully, as she was in quite a lot of pain.
It was with relief that we finally got a phone call on Friday from Eric’s Dad letting us know that she had passed away. Neither of us cried, it was really hard to be sad, knowing that her long fight was finally done. (Although, I will admit that we both appeared to hold back tears during Mass when we prayed for those that had died.)
I suppose though, it is important to remember the conversation I had with the boys on Thursday, telling them that she probably would die soon. I reminded them that God heals people and that she would feel so much better in Heaven, so it would be a blessing, because she was in so much pain now.
Noah did a half-smile and said, “It’s nice that God heals people.” Then he paused and continued with a bigger smile, “I just love it when He does that.”
So true, Noah. I love it when He does that too.
And, so…Goodbye Grandmom — but just for now. In the grand scheme of eternity, I know we will all see you again soon.
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