My husbands grandmother died the other day. She was 90 years old and in the care of her daughter and her grand daughter.
She had a few ailments common to age to deal with but it was an anurism in her stomach that burst that hospitalized her this time. the doctor's couldn't do anything about it except keep her comfortable and out of pain.
One doctor wanted to put her on the operating table so he could as he put it..."at least get some extra insurance money out of her inevitable death." Thankfully the other doctor present let him have it and told him that the hospital was making enough enough money off of her and the few hours she had left in this world she could spend it in ICU with her family by her side.
We were all appreciative of this doctors compassion. As for the other doctor, well, she was out of his life soon enough.
My husbands grandmother was an incredible woman. Aside from the three kids she had, the many grandchildren (she helped raise as well)and great grandchildren, she worked as a welder when she was a young woman. Remember the old advertisement pictures of Rosie the Riveter? She was one of them. Her main training however was as a nutritionist which she held a degree in, and which made her the cook we all remember and will miss!
I don't know everything or even as much as I'd like to about my husbands grandmother. I don't know all the things she did in her long life. Right now I, like I know many other family members are trying to do, is recall anything they can about her in life so as to remember her now. It's what helps us still feel close to her.
She was a strong woman, outspokens at times but she always made me feel respected if she had any issues with me. Thats something I'll miss. Don't get me wrong. She could snap your head off if she wanted to or if you irritated her enough. But she never held what you may have done against you.
She was generous with anything she had and helped members of her family many times when they experienced financial woes.
I was only related to her through my husband. But through the years I came to know and love her as my own grandmother. I feel in love with her just as easily as I did with my husband and other members of his family.
There are no more grandmothers for me. My mothers mom died with I was seventeen. My father's mother died when I was in my thirties. Theres no one to talk with me about their life so long ago. How they did things back when they were a kid, teen and adult. No one to cook you a hearty meal and plesantly overstuff you with it. No one to talk about the silly things our parents did when when they were young. Grandparents were always good at bringing parents down to size. mrgreen
It's a vicious cycle.
In all of this I couldn't help but think of my mother in law, her sister and their brother, both of who I look at as being my own aunt and uncle. I may be without a grandmother but they're without a mother now. That knowledge is what made me cry hardest while in the hospital with everyone and it still hurts to think of it.
If your hear reading this today do me a favor please, give your grandmother a big hug and tell her that you love her. Time is short in this life and grandma's are gone all too soon.
Goodbye grandma. Thank you for touching my life and letting me get to know you.
 Irahatam · Thu Nov 06, 2008 @ 12:44pm · 0 Comments |
