We traveled last week to gather, for one final time, at my grandmother's home of 62 years. It was a trip I was looking forward to and dreading, all at the same time. To most, this looks like just another old house. To me, it is a place....a sacred place....where my mother and her siblings were raised and loved and sent out from, to be in the world. It is a place where I spent a week each summer...swimming in the pool....going to Vacation Bible School...and being loved on by Gammy and Pop. I vividly taste the sweet, cold peach that I snagged from the fridge in the garage/pool house on a hot summer day. It is a home in which I have many, many happy memories...celebrations of all kinds -- birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. It also is the place where we all came together when Pop passed away to be together and remember Pop. It is, above all else, the only house that has been in my life for it's entirety, thus far. So, when my grandmother leaves it on March 30th, this large chapter of her life and mine will end. And, I'll just say it....I'm sad about that. But, I'm happy for the opportunity for Gammy to live in a place where she can be with others and settle into a life that won't require the upkeep of an older home. She'll be near my aunt in Lynchburg, VA, so, they can see each other often and go to church together.
And, so, like many, many things in life....we'll close this chapter and start another. A new beginning....for Gammy and for our family.
Uncle John put it best: we're thankful and fortunate that Gammy gets the chance to share her love and compassion with a new community and we'd be selfish to keep it to ourselves. I can only hope that I am able to walk in her footsteps and be even just half the woman she is.
We love you, Gammy!
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