The Circle of Life...

This has been an interesting week. I've had some tough days with the kids. I've had some very productive days around the house. I've had one very full day followed by one very lazy evening. We've had a birth in the family, and this morning we've had a death...

My grandmother died this morning. I didn't know my grandmother all that well since I grew up here in Texas and she lived most of her life in Montana. We visited her a few times in Montana when I was growing up, and I have wonderful memories of trips to Glacier National Park and seeing the Grand Tetons. And the fried chicken. Oh.my.word. did grandma make some good fried chicken! I also have some not so wonderful memories of eating trout for breakfast...eeww! I remember that as a kid I liked my grandmother quite a bit. We seemed to have a lot in common (affinity for trout aside). She liked to watch t.v. :) She liked to read. And later in life, after I started Tole Painting as a hobby, I discovered that my grandmother painted as well. She did Rosemaling mostly. I did one simple rosemaling project in my painting club and I believe I sent her a picture of it. When her eyes got too bad to be able to see well enough to paint, she sent me a lot of her supplies and unfinished projects. Some of them I painted, and some I passed on to fellow painters. Her art kit I refurbished and gave as a gift to my niece (who is an amazing artist herself) as a gift. Oddly enough, it was this same niece who gave us a new life just three days before our grandmother's life was taken...

My parents brought my grandmother down here to live in Texas several months ago. It was so much fun to be able to introduce her to my children. My children never got to meet any of their other great-grandparents. It was wonderful to get to share Mother's Day, Family Birthdays, and the Fourth of July celebrations with my grandmother. She was doing so well when she first moved down here that we got to spend a lot of time with her doing family stuff. I'm grateful for those memories.

But my grandmother suffered from post-polio syndrome which brought with it many, many problems. In the end, her lungs gave out and the doctors just couldn't get them to work again. I have been praying for the past week that if God had accomplished all He had for her to do in this world, that He would go ahead and take her home and end her pain. I guess she had finished the race, because He took her home this morning. She is finally healed. I'm sure that she is not only walking those streets of gold, but dancing on them as well free from the pain and disabilities that accompanied a body that survived polio as a child, but was never completely healed. And I bet that very soon, she'll probably start painting again. She'll paint a masterpiece with two brand new eyes and vision that we can't even imagine! I hope she paints one or two for me to hang in my mansion when I get there!

So, I'm sad for those of us who are still here, missing her. But I'm happy for my grandmother who is finally pain free...and I hope she has found my three babies up there and is loving on them and holding them in a way she wasn't able to hold my babies down here.

Goodbye Grandma Lila. We will miss you. We love you. And we can't wait to see you again on the other side!



This picture is of my mom and dad on the right, my dad's sister and her husband with their son on the left, and my grandmother in the middle. This picture was taken probably at least ten years ago, but it's the only one I have of my grandmother on my computer, and I wanted you all to see her.