1918-2008

This past Saturday our family laid my grandmother to rest.

It was a cold, dreary, drizzly day -my grandmother would have HATED it! :) she hated clouds and loved the sunshine.

The service was very small and very private-just the way my grandmother would have wanted it. Family was everything to her.

My dad "officiated" it and did a wonderful job. He spoke for a few minutes, and then opened it up to the rest of us to share our memories. They had the funeral home set the chairs up into a semi-circle, to make it a more comfortable setting for us to share -rather than having to get up and stand at a podium.

It was great to remember and celebrate Grandmother. Of course there were some tears and sadness, but it was fun to hear how everyone else remembered her..and to hear a few of the stories my dad and aunt had to share about her from when they were little.

in the small room the service was held in, up in the corner was a painting of a hummingbird. My grandmother and grandad loved hummingbirds and have several feeders all over their yard. it was so fitting a hummingbird was in "her" room that day.

at my grand-dad's funeral 6 years ago, my sister had my 2 nieces and my nephew lay a flag on his casket before burial. I decided to do the same with my 3 kids for grandmother. She was fiercely loyal to our country and even as frail as she was, put up the flag at their house until she became too ill to do so.

I had to choke back tears when lifting Elizabeth up to lay her flag. Just a bit over a year ago, she wasn't even an American..she was just a little girl in China without a mommy or daddy....or grandmother...and now, she was laying her new country's flag on the casket of a grandmother she only had the privilege to meet twice.



Grandmother, we miss you so much. so much it hurts sometimes. We promise to keep your memory (and grand-dad's) alive with our children. You will not be forgotten.

We love you a bushel and a peck and hug around the neck.