My grandmother
My mother's mother died 9 days ago. Honestly, I'm not even sure exactly what she died of, but she had been sick in the range of ill to very ill for a year or more.
When I was small I spent many weekends at her house. I remember watching "Solid Gold", "The Barbara Mandrell Show", "The Love Boat", and "Fantasy Island" on many Saturday nights. She took me to the beach more times than I could count. At Christmas she took me to see the Boston Ballet perform The Nutcracker. It was our tradition. When I was older she took me to see "The King and I" (one of the last seasons that Yul Brynner performed before he died) and "Annie" in the big theater in Boston.
I am happy for her suffering to be over and I wish that she had had more of an opportunity to know her great-grandchildren. I sent her some pictures of the kids a month or so ago, and I gather that she was well enough to be aware of them and look at them. As for our relationship, it was strained with the the stuff of earth. Our last conversation was in December. She was clear-headed, she was unhappy, and she was suffering, but she was honest and real and I felt like she was beginning to shake off the bullshit of this world and that was a relief.

"And when my body lies in the ruins
Of the lies that nearly ruined me
Will You pick up the pieces
That were pure and true
And breathe Your life into them
And set them free
And when You start the world over again from scratch
Will You make me anew out of the stuff that lasts
Sutff that's purer than gold is
Clearer than glass could ever be
And can I be with You"
- Rich Mullins, "Be With You"