Goodbye Church Grandma

My grandma H (my mom's mom) passed away on Thursday. It was not unexpected, as she's had a rough go of it especially for the last year. She was in her early 90's and had lived a very hard but great life, and it was time to go.

She has been living with my parents for the last several months, and she died at their home. Her last few days were rough but the actual passing was very peaceful, with family there to say goodbye. My sister and her kids were down visiting for spring break and she actually died in my sister's arms after she told her it was okay to go. Pretty sweet.

We lived next door to my grandma when I was very small and I do remember a few things about her from that time. What I remember most is watching Donny and Marie and the Lawrence Welk Show at her house. Then her tv broke and she never replaced it, and instead always had KSL radio on. Funny the things you remember. I also remember that she had a beautiful yard that she lovingly cared for, and a garden that fed half the neighborhood. She was such a hard worker, it was amazing really.

I got to know her better in the last 10 years, when we lived in her house for 6 years while she lived with my uncle. We were in the same ward so we took her to church every Sunday (she quit driving probably 20 years ago or more.) Thus, my kids call her "the church grandma".

I was able to see her just a few weeks ago, when I went to Utah to surprise my mom for her 60th birthday. At that time, she looked better than I had expected her to, but had times where she was pretty vacant. I'm very glad I was able to see her in relatively good condition before she passed, and that's how I want to remember her. We aren't going to go out for the funeral.

We will miss her, but it was definitely a life well lived. I learned a lot from my grandma and I'll always be grateful for the things she taught me.