Happy Birthday Grandmother

Good Saturday afternoon my peeps! How are you?  How was your Friday night? Do anything fun? What's on your agenda today - anything exciting? Maybe you are going to cut down your Christmas tree and start decorating, or maybe you are finished decorating and you are going to work on your shopping now, or maybe you've finished it all and just have the wrapping left to do?  I am finished shopping, other than a few things for my boss's and now I have to complete my wrapping and it will be all finished - YAY!!!!

However, this post isn't about Christmas at all today - it's about my favorite grandmother in the entire world whom I love dearly and adore.  Today is her birthday - although, I'm not sure of her exact age, I think she would have been in her early 80's today.  You see, I said, would have been.... this lovely lady passed away in March of 2006 - almost 4 years ago and it continues to break my heart daily.  I received birthday cards from her since I was born and the year she passed was the first year that I knew there would be no more birthday cards, no more Sunday phonecalls, no more just calling to say hello or get one of her famous recipes - to say I was extremely heartbroken would be an understatement.  She was like my second mom and we were very very close. 

I remember the last day I got to see her alive - she was in the hospital as she had a stroke.  My husband and I drove to Dallas for the weekend to see her and even though she really couldn't talk to us - we could talk to her and I could lay in bed beside her and hug her deeply.  I remember how dry her hands were too and I would rub her hands with lotion to make them feel better and she loved it.  And even though she could not talk to me - she knew what I was saying because she would shake her head yes or no to me and other times she would just look at me and not give a response.  But, the one thing I will never forget is the day when we left and went to say goodbye to her - I told her I loved her very much and would miss her - and she told me she loved me back - that completely broke my heart while at the same time making me feel good that she spoke some of her last words to me.  The only words she could speak were "I LOVE YOU" and I will cherish those words forever.

The following Friday night I received the call from my mother that my grandmother had passed away (it was my mom's mom) and I was DEVASTATED and completely heartbroken and still am to this day.  After the funeral was all said and done and we were back home and my birthday rolled around (in May) - I received a final card in the mail from my grandmother - though, it really wasn't from her as she had been gone for 2 months by that point - no, instead, it was from my mother who knew how much I loved my grandmother and was missing her and the inscription read - I think this is the card your grandmother would have chosen to send to you this year.  Can you say bawl? I cried and cried for the rest of the weekend over that card.  Though it wasn't from my grandmother in all actuality - it was - because I knew in my heart that she had put it in my mother's mind to send that card to me.   It has taken me until now to be able to talk about her in a conversation and not break down.

Anyway - here is a the only picture I can find of her currently (that is on my computer).  Since Shutterfly wouldn't let me crop it further down due to the resolution, it has my mom in it as well.  If you've read this far, thank you for listening to me cry today - I will forever miss this wonderful lady - she was a wonderful person and very dear to me. (I never called her grandma - I always called her Grandmother)

Happy Birthday, Grandmother - I love you - you will be forever missed!