Thursday, June 11, 2009

Goodbye Grandma Neva



We had a service for Grandma today. It was really nice and simple, held in the St. Francis hospital chapel. We woke the boys to make it to the church on time, though we were still late. Then, of course, Sam wanted to eat halfway through the service. My Dad asked one favor of me, that I help present the communion elements, with my cousin and sister. Well, I was out of the room nursing Sam when that time came, and I blew it. I feel crummy about that. There were a lot more folks there than I thought there would be. We almost filled that chapel. It was good to see friends and coworkers of my Dad and Stepmom being so supportive. My Dad delivered a great eulogy, particularly dwelling on how Grandma told lots of stories. She was a big talker. It was rarely silent around her, even if she'd told you the same story a zillion times, she'd say, well, I like to tell it. I know that she's in such a better place. The priest mentioned that we were "celebrating her dash". You know, she lived from 1914-2009. It's that dash in the middle, that's our life, and that was what we were celebrating today, how she lived that dash. And she Lived it.
Dad said she used to be a good cook, but got distracted when we were around. She once was making green beans, sauteed them in olive oil, then went to put lemon pepper on them, accidently grabbed cinnamon instead. Instead of pitching them, she rinsed them in water, and piled on the lemon pepper. My father had this rule, we had to eat everything on our plate that Grandma cooked. Those were the worst green beans I've ever eaten. To this day, I don't eat fancied up green beans. I like them plain. But I'll never look at fancied up green beans and not think of my Grandma. I remember laughing about those beans for years after. I kept it together, but when Dad touched on that story in the eulogy, I teared up. I will say that it was refreshing to have Sam and Chris with me though. They have this Gift. I can't help but appreciate their new and developing lives, and treasure them that much more in the face of Grandma's passing.



I'll miss you Grandma.

5 comments:

Kathy said...

I'm sorry about Grandma :(

Seestor said...

Actually, as I remember, she put on the cinnamon, then washed them, with SOAP, and rinsed them, THEN covered them up with copious amounts of lemon pepper - soapy cinnamon lemon pepper beans, worst green beans EVER. God, I'll never forget that..
xoxo

Unknown said...

What a great tribute. I'm sorry for your loss.

Cathy said...

Nuh uh, she didn't use soap. I was in the kitchen with her. "Helping". She just rinsed with water which was utterly useless considering the beans were covered in olive oil first. Soap would've been more useful. Ugh.

amypfan said...

Beautiful.