In whatever time we have...

A pair of tiny black dress shoes were still perched on our dresser.  Some of the luggage was in a corner of the room waiting to be put away.  Our dry cleaning had just been picked up the day before.  It took me less than an hour to pack it all up again.

It seemed almost like déjà vu as we loaded all of the same things in the car.  Made all the same mental notes.  Crossed all the same things off of our to-do list as we had done only two weeks before.

It felt as though we had only just returned from the funeral of my husband’s paternal grandmother when we received the news - his maternal grandmother had passed away as well.

It doesn’t usually go like this.  Generally, you have time (a lot of time) to regroup between one funeral and another.  We did not.

I was lucky enough to know these two women in the short patch of time our lives were crossed.  A small blip on the radar of two beautifully long lives (85 and 78 years respectively), but a blip nonetheless.  These women had almost 40 grandchildren between them and 10 great-grandchildren.

I remember boasting proudly that my son would be lucky enough to know 7 of his 8 great-grandparents and how awesomely rare that was.  I am so glad he got to meet them briefly and that we made up for distance between us with pictures and cards.  The letter one of the grandmother’s wrote us held a special place in TIH’s baby book long before she passed away and will continue to be one of the most special things we’ve ever found in our mailbox.

As I sat and watched each slide show, I was suddenly overcome with the staggering pace with which life passes us.  My husband said it best while we looked at his grandparent’s wedding pictures: that to them that day (58 years ago) probably seemed like it was just yesterday.

I know TIH won’t even remember the fact that he attended two funerals in the first short year of his life, but we will make sure he remembers the wonderful women who came before us.  Death is a concept that isn’t always very comfortable to talk about, but I know we will have to explain it to him someday.  I know that a large influence of that discussion will involve our faith and belief in Heaven.  I also know that we will explain that life (no matter how short or how long) is a precious, wonderful thing and should be celebrated.

I am sure the members of my husband’s family are experiencing a great deal of grief having both of these funerals so close to one another.  I can also say they did such a beautiful job of celebrating both of these precious and wonderful lives.

As a new mom, I didn’t picture bringing my son to two funerals in a month, but I suppose I did picture carrying him through this life of ours - both the fun and not-so-fun parts.

We miss you and love you both, Grandma C and Grandma G.

I just know you’re up there sharing a whole lot of really great stories right now.

HMC ~ 7/19/1925 - 6/13/2011
JVG ~ 6/24/1933 - 7/6/2011

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