Even when the death of a loved one is expected, it is still a shock to lose a person who was close to you during your life. Today, I find myself a grand-orphan; the last of my grandparents has left us.
My Gramma Lyons was a loving, interesting, inspiring, and unique person in my life. When I was younger, I spent one week each summer at my grandparents’ home in Bessemer, Michigan. I remember these weeks fondly. I was the center of my grandparents’ attention for my last week of fun before school. We would spend hours outside, where my grandmother loved to be. We would walk around her sweet little small-town neighborhood and talk with the neighbors, accompanied by Gramma & Grampa’s beloved dog, Peaches. One of my favorite activities was picking raspberries in the giant patch that she tended to each summer. We’d grab a hodge-podge of colorful plastic bowls, and Gramma would put on one of her summer hats before we walked to the lot behind their home that was covered in a fenced-in jungle of bushes full of my favorite fruit. I would eat more berries than I put in the bowls, and when Gramma had managed to fill most of them we’d wander back to the house with our arms full to begin making all sorts of goodies. While she cooked, I would poke around the spare bedroom and explore the buckets of fabric patches she had cut for quilts. She’d always let me choose a few pieces to use to make clothing for dolls and my favorite stuffed bunny rabbit. Gramma was always a painter, and we’d fill little cups and vases with the flowers surrounding their home and create paintings together. She always had an assortment of canvasses, papers, brushes, and colors to let me play with!
Elma Lyons would have been 97 on New Year’s Eve this year. In her later years, she was afflicted with alztheimer’s. It causes great sadness to see a loved one live the last of their days without recognition of those family members who were closest to them during their life. Therefore, the news of Gramma’s passing has brought with it a range of emotions… On one hand, I will forever miss my wonderful grandmother with whom I spent so many beautiful summer afternoons, holidays, vacations (Gramma & I even saw Finland together twice when I was very young) and special occasions. On the other hand, I lost that piece of the wonderful woman I knew years ago. Because of that, it is a blessing in its own way that she is now released from this physical world where she no longer knew the people who made her happiest.
Dearest Gramma, wherever you are… You will be remembered with more love than you can imagine. Tell Grampa I say “Hi.” Xoxoxo
by Mandie Haberman
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