A Goodbye

Just to recap:

A week ago Wednesday, Anne and I returned from Texas and taught Wednesday through Friday as well as hauling up to UW for another experiment and sitting on the Seattle-Japan Suzuki Institute honors recitals selection committee.  Jared came home from his two weeks in Chicago on Friday evening.

Saturday evening we got a message from Jared's parents that his Grandma was dying.  We immediately made phone calls and sent emails to rearrange schedules and hopped in the car on Sunday morning to go and visit her.  She was in a hospice care facility in Vancouver, WA.  We got to see her on Sunday and Monday.  Sunday she was awake when Anne and I were there and even though she wasn't able to communicate very much, she was clearly delighted to see her one and only little great-grandchild.  There are a couple of wonderful pictures Jared's dad took on Sunday of family gathered around Grandma, and I would love to share those with you when I get a copy.  It was sad to see Grandma so weak and tired, but I'm glad that she was not in pain and had a couple of days for so many friends and relatives to come to say goodbye to her.

We were staying the nights at Jared's parents' house, and when the phone rang at four o'clock on Tuesday morning everyone knew it was Claudia calling to say that Grandma had passed.

Tuesday I had to go up to Gig Harbor to teach, which was an easy six-hour round trip, and I'm glad I went.  I'm also glad that Jared and Anne stayed, because the family gathered for dinner on Tuesday evening, and they got to be a part of it.  It was the longest Anne and I had been apart since we've had her, and she did just fine.  It was sort of a vacation for me - solo car time and teaching without trying to manage a toddler too.

We remained in Oregon until Thursday when we drove home.

I'm thinking about Grampa.  How do you say goodbye to your spouse of seventy years?  How do you say goodbye to the mother of your children?  

But, maybe Grampa will have a new lease on life.  He's put all of his energies into caring for Grandma the last few years.  Now maybe he'll have some energies for gardening and woodworking and meeting some people and exercising and going on some little trips.

On a selfish note, we were thrilled at the opportunity to visit with Jared's sister Sara. This was the first time in several years we had gotten to see her and the first time Anne got to meet one of her namesakes.  (Anne shares Sara's middle name.)

There were some blessings on timing, too.  This was the one week in June when Jared was not out of state.  And Jared's mom and sister had just finished school for the year.  And one of Jared's uncles had planned a vacation week from work.  And one of his aunt's had a lighter-than-usual week.

It was good for Anne to be there.  The next youngest person family member who was present is in his twenties, and there's nothing like a bubbly and oblivious toddler to distract people from their sadness.

Grandma will be missed, but she is also no longer suffering.  And she went to sleep waiting for the resurrection at Christ's return.  I hope for all of our sakes that this event will occur.