This last year has been a challenging one for my family as well as my husbands. We both lost the matriarchs of our families. My grandma Irene, who is my mom's mother, past away in her sleep 2 days before Christmas last year. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her and miss her. She would always call to see how my kids were doing and to find out when the next time would be that I would bring them down. We tried to at least go down there once a week. The day before she died we were down there at my moms and I called and asked her if she wanted to come to lunch with us, but unfortunately she had already eaten. As I loaded my fussy children in the van about to leave my moms house that evening, I thought I should just run in to Grandma's and say Hi real quick, but then the kids were cranky and tired and I didn't want to deal with it, so I headed home. I knew I would see her in two days for Christmas. This will haunt me the rest of my life. The next morning my mother in law came to watch my kids so that I could run to the mall because I still hadn't gotten my Grandma's Christmas present. I was about 2 minutes from my house when Matthew called and said that my mom had found my Grandma in her bed where she past away in her sleep. At that point my world came crashing down and it just hasn't been the same since. She was what you would picture as a grandma.....always loving, always kind, always wanting a visit, always willing to pray for you, just always everything you needed. She was just so wonderful. She was the glue that held our family together, and this past year has been such a challenge for all of us to live life without her in it.
Below is a picture of my "Grandma Reen" taken last Thanksgiving at her house where our dinner was. I would have never thought that a month from them she would be gone.
My husbands family has also suffered a great and unfortunately very tragic loss this last summer. His Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Sydney were driving into town to attend a grandson's ball game, when a women driving south bound swerved into their lane and collided head on with them. The impact was mostly on the passenger side where Sydney was sitting and she was instantly taken from us. His Uncle Jimmy was flown flight for life to the hospital were he was able to recover physically, but after being married for 46 years, will probably never recover emotionally. They were the kind of couple that did everything together. They loved to golf and take trips, being recently retired. They raised a wonderful family together. Matthew grew up on the ranch with them and she was his second mother. This has been a tremendous loss in my husbands family and we are almost still unable to fathom that this has happened. She was such a wonderful woman. You just wonder God's reasoning when things like this happen. Below is a picture of Sydney taken in 2006 at Matthew's sisters wedding:
So, you see, I look forward to this season with great anticipation and great heartache at the same time. It's an odd combo to have in my heart and sometimes it's hard to mix the two. It has taught me that you never know what is going to happen to your loved ones and to appreciate them and don't ever hesitate to say "I love you" at any given time. T0 all my friends and family that read this, I appreciate you and am so thankful to have you in my life. I love you.
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