WHAT MATTERS IS HOW WE LIVE AND LOVE . . . AND THIS IS THE FACE OF LOVE

For the past several days, I have been spending time with my family, celebrating the life of the sweetest woman I've ever known . . . my grandmother.  She passed peacefully in her sleep on Friday, December 26th.  It's just like her to put her family first by waiting until after Christmas to take her journey.  See that smile?  That's how her face would light up when one of her grandchildren would walk into the room--regardless of how she might be feeling.  Mamaw loved, and she was love--a gentle angel on earth.  She was the sweetest, kindest, extremely talented, and most gentle person EVER.  I will never forget the way she would examine something (anything) that I had made.  She would hold it carefully--as if it was a priceless treasure--and rub her hand lightly over it, zooming in for closer inspection.  Of course, a compliment would follow the inspection, and she would hand the treasure back to me--very carefully.  She was a treasure!  When my son was younger, he shared an observation with me when he said that "mamaw never gets mad or yells at us (the children)", and he was absolutely right.  Although our family will miss her greatly, I can't help but be happy for her.  I figure her "meet and greet" session began on Friday, and I can only imagine that she's still beyond happy, glowing, and asking, "Why did it have to take so long to get here?"

In closing, an excerpt from Linda Ellis' poem, "The Dash" because mamaw made the most of hers, and ours is much richer for having the opportunity to know and love her:

For that dash represents all the time
that they spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved them
know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own,
the cars…the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.

 12/03/19 - 12/26/14