Great Grandma

*After speaking at my Great Grandma's Memorial last weekend, I had a few people request that I post what I shared. Luckily, I do better with public speaking if I write things out word for word. So, I have it hear to share with you. If you are one that requested it, here it is. If not, you can read it anyway =o)

I am going to try to say what I have to say about my great grandma in just a couple minutes but it is hard to keep it minimal when you are talking about someone who you were so close to and who taught you so much.

Great Grandma taught me some valuable life lessons. I am sure she taught you many of the same ones. For example, when I was very young, one of the first things she taught me was how to tuck a pack of Rolos into my jeans just right, so when my t-shirt covered my mom would NEVER know great grandma had snuck me and extra pack. She was good for getting us our chocolate, wasn’t she?

When I was a little older, maybe 9 or 10, she taught my sister and I a very valuable skill. One of my favorite memories. We had stayed the weekend at Grandma’s so the mats were all laid out. Great Grandma demonstrated what to do when a boy got “fresh” with you, by pretending to dance with my brother and tossed him over her shoulder, body slamming him onto the mats. He swears to this day that he let her. I disagree. Either way, it’s another one of those valuable life lessons.

As I got older, I had the privilege of just hanging out with great grandma. Most of the time we just watched a scary movie and ate way too much ice cream. But the times I remember best we just sat and talked. I remember sitting in her room upstairs and hearing stories about her growing up. She was tough as nails and had no problem keeping up with the boys. I also remember her talking about her mom. How beautiful she remembers her being.

I don’t think Great Grandma realized how beautiful she was herself. You see great grandma had this beauty that radiated from the inside out. Talking to her I learned of many difficult times in her life. Yet she still possessed so many wonderful characteristics that made her beauty shine through.

Her sense of humor and ability to always make you smile. Her thoughtfulness and desire to give to others. Oh and her honesty. None of us can deny Great Grandmas very blunt honesty.

Lots of stories and memories come from great grandma’s honesty. Like the time she brought down a stick of deodorant for a friend we had over, she told her it was “just in case she forgot that morning”.

Yes, she was a little over honest at times but oh how I wish I possessed the ability to be as honest as my great grandma.

There are so many memories of my great grandma that I will never forget. One day I will be able to sit with my own children and grandchildren and share with them about how beautiful my Great Grandma was.

Great Grandmas death has been a hard one for me to accept but I have found so much comfort in the fact that she gets to be “The Lady Upstairs” once again. I know how much pride she took in that title and I can only imagine how much that pride has multiplied in this new home upstairs.

A few years back, when I accepted Jesus into my own life, Great Grandma and I had a new bond formed. As I said before, great Grandma had a lot of difficult times in her life. Yet she overcame them. She shared with me many times about her faith and the difficult walk she had been through. I only truly understood this when she gave me her old bible. Looking through this bible I learned two things. First, that it was even more of a difficult walk than she had let on. And secondly, she was defiantly a woman of great faith.

I sat down and read through great grandma’s bible a couple of nights ago and I found some verses that she had not only underlined but circled as well. Since she paid so much attention to them I know they were of great importance to her. These verses bring comfort to me and maybe they will to you as well.

Philippians 1:21-24 says:

²¹For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. ²²If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! ²³I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; ²⁴but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.

See great grandma knew the truth and knew that one day she would walk with Jesus. She desired to be with Him and share eternal life.

Because of this, I know I do not have to say goodbye. I know that I will see her again. To me it may seem like such a long time until I do, to her it will only be a blink of an eye. For all of us this is such a painful time, but for great grandma the pain is gone, she will never have to feel an ounce of pain again. At this time since I do not have to say goodbye. I will wrap it up with words I look forward to hearing again, “See you later alligator”!