My Grandma Passed Away Yesterday...

She was 88 years old and all the grandchildren called her Momo.

Even though she was old it came as a bit of a shock. She had some heath scares over the years when we really braced ourselves for this type of thing. However, the last month or so she had been doing really great. She even went out to lunch with my Mom the day before and requested PF Changs. 

At 6:30 yesterday morning she called for some nurses to help her go to the bathroom and then got dressed for the day and sat in her chair. A half and hour later they went in to check on her and she was gone. I guess it's the best anyone could ask for... to go peacefully like that.

Anyways, as I sit here blubbering to myself I'm going to type a few things that I will always remember about her...

-How excited she was about this baby. She really wanted to live to see it and would talk about how she couldn't wait to see what it would look like. When we were in her apartment yesterday I found the blanket she was making for the baby. She didn't get very far, but I think my aunt is going to finish it for her. 

-When she used to pick my sisters and I up from school and pack us afternoon snacks that were twice the size of an adult man's lunch. She always wanted us to eat more.

-Her smell. She always wore Estee Lauder's "Beautiful." It's totally a grandma perfume, but it was her smell. 

-Her cooking. She didn't cook at all in recent years and although I've tried I cannot for the life of me recreate the flavor of her mashed potatoes, (they were probably half butter) banana nut bread, brandied sweet potatoes, vegetable soup and this delicious caramel glaze that she would put on angel food cake. 

-Our trips to McDonald's when I was in kinder garden. Much to my mom's dismay we went almost every other day. She got excited when the McRib was "in season."

-Her positive attitude. If you've ever been in a nursing home or retirement home you know how many crotchety old people there are. (And how you can blame them? It sucks to get old.) I'm seriously not wearing rose colored glasses when I say that I don't think I ever heard her complain. All the nurses would tell us how pleasant she was to work with. Always a lady.

I could go on and on, but that's enough for now. I must say that I feel lucky to have spent so much time with her in the last 6 months. We tried to have someone visit her or take her on an outing every single day. Since I've been unemployed I've been seeing her at least twice a week, either on my own or with Mom. (Way more than I would have been able to otherwise.) I'm glad not to have any regrets about that.

Whew...  My face is now red and swollen, but I feel better having written that. It can be so therapeutic to get things down "on paper." Thanks for reading.