"Let me tell you 'bout my best friend"

There's a lot I'm unsure of in this life, things I will never understand or questions of "why?" that I long for the answers to, so. many. things. 

Death hurts. & that's that. Even though we know people don't live forever, the sting of death never gets lighter or easier. I have started to miss this sweet lady since the day she started losing her memory and with it, herself. Through all the misunderstanding that comes with sickness and death and losing someone you love so incredibly much, there are also SO many things I am sure of about this woman, and so many memories I will hold on to for the rest of my life. So many things I could go on for days, but these are a few things I am sure of....

I am sure she was the most gracious & beautiful woman I have ever known. 

I am sure she was the most servant hearted wife I have ever known, even though I never got to see her in this precious role. I am sure she loved this man below with all her heart and never stopped loving him, not even for a second. I am sure she missed him every single day after he was taken from earth far too early. She would tell me stories of him and I loved that she didn't just pick & choose the good ones. She would tell of him driving her up the wall and the times marriage wasn't at it's finest, never putting him down, just keeping it real. Of course, singing his praises before and after, I wish more than anything I could have known him, but she made sure I felt as if I did. 

I am sure she loved her 3 boys with all her heart and I am sure that because of raising 3 boys, she was absolutely positively the toughest lady I will ever know. Her stories of them are some of my favorites, I'm not sure how she or they made it out alive, but my goodness, she saw it all and told those wild stories with tears of laughter in her eyes. What a sight their house must have been everyday. 

I am sure she was the most selfless woman I have ever known. She carted members of her church to and from service each and every Sunday with a smile on her face and song on her lips. I went with her a good many times and never once heard a complaint leave her mouth. She loved people and would do whatever it took to serve them. 

I am sure she had the most angelic voice and could sing hymns all day. Her sweet voice could always be heard if you were with her, signing a song or at the least, humming a tune. It was always a treat to hear her, too bad she didn't pass an ounce of that along to me. (Sorry it made me cut this video so short to fit on the blog)

I am sure she loved me with all her heart. 

I am sure this is one of the greatest privileges of my life and always will be. She was there for it all, birthdays, sicknesses, vacations, everything. One of my greatest memories growing up was packing my suitcase and getting to head to her house for days at a time. I was such a home-body, every time I attempted to spend the night at a friends house I would end up calling home at bed time, ready for my mom & dad to come pick me up. But not at her house. I could stay for a week. 

I am sure that while I was there we played more Rummy than most people do in a life time. She taught me to play so many games and we would play for hours on end, she never complained about hanging out with a child or wanting to do other things. She was in the moment and made me feel like there was no where else she would rather be. 

I am sure she was the greatest cook. There's not a morning I stayed at her house or she stayed at ours that we didn't have a full, southern, delicious breakfast, homemade biscuits, eggs, bacon, sausage, the works, and all started before you woke up, so that delightful smell of bacon was the first thing you noticed and probably what woke you in the first place. 

I am sure that at our wedding, she tried to take it upon herself to turn the DJ's music down because it was far too loud for her liking, y'all! 

I am sure that I am blessed with the 2 greatest Grandmas in all the world, and I am so thankful the Lord chose them to be mine. 

I am sure that she loved the mountains more than any place on earth and was so grateful to live out the last years of her life on her own piece of paradise.

I am sure that watching her meet Mason for the first time if one of my favorite memories of all time and always will be.

 I am sure that she was a baby whisperer and the moment he hit her arms she was instantly one of his favorite people, as she always has been mine. 

                                           

I am sure that she loved babies and children more than anything else, she just had a way with them. 

I am sure my heart is so full knowing my son got to know this precious woman and loved her just like I did. 

I am sure that yesterday, as she made her way around heaven finding everyone she has lost in her 93 years and longed to see again that she found my sweet Emerson Iris. I am sure she hasn't put her down since, carrying her around as she continues greeting and loving on everyone she has missed so incredibly much. The little girl who was named after her and the 2 people I loved the very most in the world, together and rejoicing at the feet of Jesus. I am sure she will teach my girl some games, make her yummy breakfasts, spoil her rotten, sing her the most beautiful hymns and fill her ears with stories about me until I have the chance to meet her & love on her myself.

I am sure that the Lord blessed us greatly in the time we got to spend with her just 2.5 months ago. Mason played cars and hide and seek around her chair and they both laughed so hard.

                                         

I am sure I have one million other pictures and stories I could share. I am sure I am forgetting so many things. I am sure I could write and share for days.

I am sure I will miss her every single day of my life, but I am also sure I made the greatest memories with her in the almost 28 years I got to call her my Grandma. 

I am also sure of one more thing, last but certainly not least, actually the opposite, the most important one of all....

I am MOST certain that yesterday when she entered the gates of heaven, she was the happiest she had ever been in her life, for above all the people she loved here on earth, she loved one person greater, her Lord & Saviour, Jesus Christ. Above all other roles in her life was the title of "Christian" and she lived it out in every single thing she did. I am sure that as she walked in yesterday immediately made whole again & memory restored, she was greeted by Jesus with the greatest of all hugs and a "well done, good & faithful servant". I am sure she is exactly where she wants to be and that while our earthly hearts ache at her absence, she is rejoicing with Jesus and so many people she loves. 

She is home.

I love you.