On Saturday morning we got a call from Jeremy’s dad.

We learned that Granny, Jer’s maternal grandmother, passed away. Instantly I felt awful for not getting the Christmas cards out in a timely fashion. I know that her last thoughts weren’t “That Heather, she didn’t send me a Christmas card this year.”

They live about an hour away. With Jeremy’s hectic schedule and my failing eyesight at night, getting down to see them hasn’t been a high priority. I feel badly for that.

What I feel worse about is when Gramps understood why we hadn’t been down to see him. He told Jeremy he understood, we were busy raising our family, he was just so happy to see us that day (and the next)

Granny was such an amazing woman to me. She always made me feel like family.

When she learned that Alexis was born she found out my address and contacted my mother to make sure it was alright if she sent us a parcel. I don’t remember the gifts in that parcel, but I do remember the letter of encouragement for me.

Later that week when I sent her a thank you letter and started it with Dear Mrs. So & So (of course you know that isn’t her name) she wrote me a letter back, scolding me telling me that I must call her Granny as we were family.

Also in that letter she encouraged me as a new bride. I was 17 when I had Alexis, I was 17 when I got married. So many people told me all the ways that we would fail, but she told me of a time when she was a 17 year old bride married to a 20 something year old man. She told me that there were many ups and downs, but after over 50 years of marriage she remembered the ups. And she knew that we would get to 50 years and beyond as well. She said she could feel it.

She & Gramps were married for 67 years. Sixty-seven!

I remember when I was pregnant with Ariel I talked with her on the phone. We didn’t know whether Ariel was a girl or boy at that point, so Granny asked me about names.

“Well, if she is a girl we will name her Ariel Constance,” I tell her.

“Constance, I always liked that name, ” she tells me.

“And if its a boy, we will name him Tristan Xavier.”

There is a pause on the line.

She slowly said “Triscuit….so familiar, yet so different.”

“Granny, I said Tris-TEN not Triscuit….that’s a cracker” I laugh into the phone.

“Oh dear….well I am so glad that you aren’t naming my great grandson after a cracker,” she laughed back.

After the funeral we all went back to Gramps’ house. Jeremy’s cousin, aunt & I really got to putting the kitchen back in order, tossing out anything questionable. It was then that I decided that at least once a month I am going to take the girls down to see Gramps.

Sure, I will lose a Saturday morning/afternoon a month, but it will be all worth it. Because is all of his 88 years I can’t imagine him being happier than when all 8 of his great grandchildren surrounded him (with the one, whether he liked it or not)

Thank you Gramps for understanding, for taking care of Granny all these years.

And thank you for being that 20 something year old man that 67 years ago turned Granny into that 17 year old bride, because you will never know how many times this 17 year old bride read that letter over and over to encourage her that she could do it, because someone else had already blazed a trail for her.