Our family Christmas picture from last month.
There is still a hole at family events without her - it still feels strange to not see her sitting at the table, joining in on conversation. But we are thankful for the impact that she made on each one of us while she was here. She left a rich legacy, full of life and hope - hopefully inspiring us all to leave a rich legacy of our own.
The last family picture we had taken together. Nanny is sitting on the couch, third from the left.
Today is my late great-grandmother's birthday. Nanny. She would have been ninety-one today. My bike path goes right by the funeral home where she is buried, so every now and then I'll bike up the hill to the site where she's buried and say "hello".
She was an incredible lady, a real treasure to everyone around her. She was always so excited to have her grandkids come over, and would greet us at the door, saying, "Come in this house!" She always had special snacks ready for us, as well as the Nickelodeon channel playing in the background (we didn't have cable, so that was always a treat). And when we got old enough to drive, she would always tell us that she was praying that angels would be watching over us wherever we were.
We had just moved to Nashville when I got word that she had a stroke and was in the hospital. Mom said it didn't look good. We had just arrived in Nashville a few days earlier, and didn't have a place to live yet. So we were staying with friends. I remember sitting outside on the front porch of our friend's house, listening to my mom tell me what had happened. My mom is pretty tough, yet there was despair in her voice. I couldn't believe it. Was this really happening?
Not long after that, she passed. She went to be with her Jesus, and she was ready. Even though some of us might not have been ready for her to leave us, she was ready. She loved her Jesus more than anything in this world, and was ready to be out of this world, out of the pain that she felt every day.
She was an incredible lady, a real treasure to everyone around her. She was always so excited to have her grandkids come over, and would greet us at the door, saying, "Come in this house!" She always had special snacks ready for us, as well as the Nickelodeon channel playing in the background (we didn't have cable, so that was always a treat). And when we got old enough to drive, she would always tell us that she was praying that angels would be watching over us wherever we were.
We had just moved to Nashville when I got word that she had a stroke and was in the hospital. Mom said it didn't look good. We had just arrived in Nashville a few days earlier, and didn't have a place to live yet. So we were staying with friends. I remember sitting outside on the front porch of our friend's house, listening to my mom tell me what had happened. My mom is pretty tough, yet there was despair in her voice. I couldn't believe it. Was this really happening?
Not long after that, she passed. She went to be with her Jesus, and she was ready. Even though some of us might not have been ready for her to leave us, she was ready. She loved her Jesus more than anything in this world, and was ready to be out of this world, out of the pain that she felt every day.
