07-29-2011, 02:28 PM
On July 9, 2011, my maternal grandmother passed away peacefully in her sleep after eating breakfast. She was 100 years old, and up until recently had been in excellent health, both physically and mentally. She had been in the hospital recently, and kept confounding the doctors by refusing to die after they time and time again called us in to say our goodbye's. She recovered, and returned to the assisted living facility where she had been staying, and though she was weak, her mind was good.My mother has been battling cancer for over 6 years. It started out in her breasts, and after bilateral mastectomy and a regimen of chemo and radiation, she was cancer free for a couple of years. However the cancer metastasized first to her bladder, then her stomach, then her intestines. Her last year has been one of severe pain, debilitating treatments, and much heartache for my father, my brother and sister, and my son and myself.Over the course of her life, my grandmother has been a devout Christian and has strong beliefs in God, and in His son Jesus. Her relationship with them was as real as it was with her family and friends. So, no one was surprised when she told us recently that she had made an agreement with God that she was not going to see my mother pass away. (She had already lost her oldest daughter to lung cancer and said that she could not bury another child.)So, as I said above, she passed away peacefully the morning of Saturday July 9, 2011, unaware that my mother had been admitted to the hospital the previous Wednesday. My mother steadily spiraled downhill from Wednesday through the weekend, finally losing her battle to the cancer on Sunday July 10. So in the course of just over 24 hours, I lost my last remaining grandparent, and my mother. It is difficult to lose one loved one, but having two go so quickly and at the same time is really surreal. You feel guilty for mourning one and letting the other slip to the back of your mind. You think about certain memories, but there are always more bubbling up under the surface. You try to cry for one, then wonder why you are not crying for the other.....I know that my Grandmother was ready to go...she had said as much. She lived a good life, and if her beliefs are correct, she is enjoying a much better existence now. My mother is out of pain now for the first time in years......but still can't make myself realize that she is not in the living room, lying on the couch, always being more concerned about me than whe was about herself. I miss them.
