Friday, March 25, 2011

Flowers from Grandma

As a collective, my kids and I have decided Grandma is in heaven dancing, tending the flowers and kittens and not necessarily sharing a house with Grandpa.

I have unconsciously started filling my house with flowers since Gma first got sick. Now, some of the more substantial, potted plants have come from friends. In fact, yesterday I was greeted in the school parking lot by a friend with a hug and a pot of tulips.

But today when I was quickly running through Walmart to pick up cream cheese, these coloured daisies jumped out at me. I honestly thought of Gma immediately and was overcome with a desire to HAVE THEM NOW! I realized, then, that they would have to fight for a vase and a place in my shop as I had indeed been buying flowers without really thinking about it.

My dad said, in his eulogy, that if everyone was Jean, all of the flowers would be tended, and we would all have dishes of water to float the blossoms on our tables. If I am developing that unconscious desire to tend the flowers then so be it.

I could not have mimicked a more deserving person, and of course, developed a more beautiful habit.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

A Small, Serious Chat Between Siblings

Recently I had to have a talk with my kids about death and heaven, and hospitals. It seems they had it all sorted out anyway.

My son asked me, "Do you want to live to be 100, mom?"

"Not really."

"'Cause you'll be really old and dying." He said matter-of-factly.

A little later I had to tell them, that great-grandma was not coming out of the hospital. "Is that because she is really old?" he asked. "Yes, but mostly because her body is broken."

"Is she going to die?" my daughter asked. I nodded.

"Where does she go when she dies?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"To God. To heaven," her brother stated.

"Who's going to carry her to heaven?" she asked.

"God!" he answered.

It went on from there, but I was so glad that they had each other. I am sure in the future, her big brother's answers to other questions would steer her wrong, but for now it was a sweet, sweet blessing.

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