Home!

As of last night, I've suddenly found myself back in Texas. My Grammy passed away yesterday. I was able to get a flight out very quickly and it actually didn't cost too much. I found out around 1:30 that I should head home, booked a flight, talked to my boss, ran home to pack, and was at the airport by 4:00 for a 5:00 flight. It couldn't have gone any smoother! Despite the circumstances, I am glad to be home! I've been craving a trip to Texas (it's been since May!) and Christmas just wasn't coming quickly enough. I haven't seen Beau since he was 2.5 months old and now he's 8 months old! I played with the boys a lot today and they are adorable!

My family is doing just fine. Grammy had Alzheimer's and really had not been the person we knew for some time now. So, it's not as though we've lost someone who was just in our life yesterday. And we are very confident that she is in a much better place today.

My father once called her a "saint" to me. I looked at him like he was crazy - who in this world likes their mother-in-law?? But, my dad had a lot of respect for her. I grew up 700 miles away from her, only seeing her a few times a year. After moving to Texas, I tried to watch and understand why my dad valued her so highly. She was an amazingly strong, independent, Christian woman. She not only went to church faithfully, she served daily. I had the opportunity to live with her for short-stints a few times - once during the internship I did in Dallas during college and a few times when I was making moves between places after college. She was literally serving in some way 6 out of 7 days each week. Taking her blind friend to lunch and to shop for clothes; taking Grace, who had never had a driver's license, to every church function; taking gifts and food to the elderly who could no longer get out of their house or nursing home; manning the clothes closet at church. She was ALWAYS going strong up until just a few years ago.

She was also always there for me when I lived closer to her and my parents were far away. The first years at college when I didn't have a drivers license, she'd hop in her car on a Friday, drive all the way to Waco just to pick me up and take me back to Dallas for a weekend of shopping. Then, do the drive again on Sunday to get me back to school. She helped me purchase my very first car...after the last one my parent's bought was totalled...she took me all over the metroplex searching car lots, helped me search the classifieds in the paper, etc... until we found exactly the car I was looking for. After moving to Dallas, I could call her for anything and often did. If ever I stopped by her house, I was sure to go home with a bag full of apples (her favorite). As a child, when we arrived to Dallas from Missouri for Christmas or summer vacation, she was sure to have the fridge stocked with Blue Bell Cookies & Cream ice cream (my favorite that could not be bought in Columbia) and she was sure to take us to our favorite stores...like the ESPRIT store in uptown. She invited me and a friend to come for spring break our sophomore year and carted us around to wherever we wanted to go. She was very giving and sweet and a great grandma!

Honestly, we aren't terribly sad. A little bit, but mostly just grateful to have had her at all and thankful she is in heaven today and it will be only a short while before we meet her again. I think the saddest part for me is realizing I now have no grandparents left. Kind of like the end of an era or something. I was very blessed with 4 amazing grandparents who were the friends of many and admired by lots.