Day 20

My Mema passed away today. :( She has been in and out of the hospital for years now. There have been many times when we thought she was going to pass and didn't and would still be around to be her crazy old self. While I am sad for my family and for the fact she is not with us any more, I know in my heart she is so much happier now. Her best friend in the whole world Helen passed away a few years ago and poor Mema missed her everyday and now they can hang out again.

In my family, we are family. We would spend a few weeks in the summer with Mema and Papa and she would make us go to vacation bible school and go pick up aluminum cans along side the road! LOL! She would even serve us coffee with sugar and milk in rocket ship cups! She wrapped our Christmas presents in Wal-Mart sacks and would buy us school supplies from Dollar General every year. You have to understand my Mema loved a deal and loved Wal-Mart and Dollar General! Her and Helen would go to Wal-Mart EVERYDAY! My Mema also let us drive her pick up truck at an age that was definitely not the legal driving age! She was crazy and we were okay with that!

As she got older she sometimes didn't remember who we were or forgot things etc. However, she would still be her old self just a self that thought we were still little. When I went to visit her over Christmas in the hospital I was telling her that I got engaged. She had only met TJ a few times and she wasn't remembering things too well. She looked over at me and said "Are you marrying that TJ?" She liked him and thought he was a good guy! Needless to say we were all surprised that she remembered who he was or that she'd ever met him.

On a side note when I visited my Grandma Norma in the hospital before she passed away I was showing her pictures of me and TJ and she looked at one of the two of us and said "I think its true love." It's nice to know that even though neither of my Grandma's will be at the wedding they both approved.

I will miss my Mema. I hope my Dad and Aunt Robin will be able to cope and be assured she is in a better happier place. I hope that my brother and sister and I will have a moment to mourn. Since Jan. 6th 2009 we have now lost 3 grandparents. Our hearts are heavy and we have barely learned what life is like without one grandparent then we lose another. Our Grandparents loved us and would call us often to check in. We would also visit on a fairly regular basis. So there has been an adjustment to living daily without someone that cared about you checking in on you anymore.

Life goes on, but tomorrow is not guaranteed, so live it to the fullest and tell the people you love that you love them as much as possible.