Today would have been my Grandma and Grandpa's 60th Wedding Anniversary! Unfortunately, we don't get to celebrate this momentous occassion with them but I know that they are both together celebrating. I found this poem on What is an Anniversary. I really like it and think it sums up everything my grandparents were and shared.
I really miss my grandparents. I was so blessed to have my Grandpa in my life for 17 years! I have cousins that have never gotten the chance to meet this awesome man. And, Alex and Olivia never got to see the joy their great-grandfather would have bestowed upon them. He loved his kids and grandkids. I loved going over to visit him. Even though it's been 18 years since he passed away, I can still remember that day like it was yesterday. When he got sick and put in the hospital, my mom asked me when I was going to go visit him. I told her I wasn't. I knew deep in my heart that he was never going to come home and I didn't want the memory of him hooked up to machines. I just wanted to remember Grandpa. Afterward, whenever we went to Grandma's, you always expected him to come walking down the hallway or expected to see him in the kitchen shaving. Through the years, I have felt his connection even though he is no longer physically present on Earth. We've talked. He's helped me out in times of need. One event that really led me to believe that we can communicate with those who have passed on is when my aunt Debbie Do was pregnant with CJ. I went to bed one night and had the most amazing dream or premonition, if you will. In my dream, my parents picked me up from someplace and told me to get in the car that Debbie was having the baby. As I went to get in the back, my dead Grandpa was in the backseat. Yea, I freaked out. I asked my mom, why Grandpa was in the back. He looked as if they had just dug him out of the ground. My mom said "He wants to see the baby being born." So I got in the car. As we started to drive, something amazing happened. My grandpa started getting younger and younger. He got to a point of age, that I had never witnessed. We arrived at my Grandma's. Now, something that struck me, is that no one was communicating with him and he wasn't communicating with anyone either - even Grandma. I asked my mom if everyone knew that Grandpa was here. She said "yes". At that time, the phone rang. It was my aunt saying she had the baby. Now, in real life, the phone was ringing...this is what woke me up. The phone call was from my aunt...saying she had had the baby. I know, so Twilight Zone. But totally happened!! I felt like he connected through me. Ever since then, we have had a connection. The night my Grandma passed away, we were talking about him. My mom made the statement that whatever I ask Grandpa to do, he does. After a long day and night sitting by my Grandma's side, a few of us were getting ready to go home. I went up to Grandma and got in her ear and told her I loved her and that it was OK for her to go. I told her to be sure and tell Grandpa and Mary "hi and that I loved them". I told her she was an awesome Grandma and that I will always cherish the memories I have of going to Penguin Park in Kansas City, of her making me sing the bumble bee song to everyone we met when I was 5, and of her teaching me to do this certain dance move that I don't know the name of but it involves moving only your feet and that I can still do to this day. After that I kissed her and left. As I was driving home, I was listening to a song by Diamond Rio called I Believe. During that time, I asked Grandpa to "take her" and end her suffering. Shortly after that, I felt this wave come over me. Almost like someone or something brushed up against me. I had a feeling Grandpa heard me and that it was him telling me it was OK and that Grandma was with him. No sooner did I get home, I received the call that Grandma had passed away. Of course, I went rushing back. Of course, as soon as I saw my mom, I burst into tears confessing that I had asked Grandpa to take her.
Anyway, I guess my whole reason for going into this was to explain that after my Grandma passed, I felt...happy. Not happy for the loss of my Grandma who I had the pleasure of knowing for 32 years of my life but happy that finally, after 14 years of being apart, Grandma and Grandpa were finally together again.
In 1988, my mom and her 6 siblings threw my grandparents a surprise 40th wedding anniversary. They only made 1 more anniversay together after that. So today, I honor my Grandparent's. I have such great memories of the two of them and miss both of them terribly! I know that they are smiling down on all 7 kids, 20 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren today. Reflecting on the journey these two shared together. So proud. And that there is no distance too great to measure the love we have felt and feel for these two awesome individuals and their life together. 60 years. WOW!
Happy Anniversary!!
What a beautiful tribute to your grandparents!
ReplyDelete