It has been awhile since I’ve posted and I’ve been busy! Since the start of September I have said good-bye to my grandma, meet Ryan’s kindergarten teacher and sent him off on his first day of public school, meet 28 new students and their parents, and am starting on a busy fall schedule with hopes of some good family time. More on that later.
As many of you know my 80 year old grandma, Marie, died early morning on Tuesday, Sept. 4th, after a very short struggle with lung cancer. What some may not know is how we were given the treasured blessing of saying good-bye to her and sending her off to be with her Lord and Grandpa.
Sunday, September 2nd, found us in Albert Lea surrounded by the entire Gilbertson clan. We were all there at Grandma’s request and no one was about to let her down. Five kids and their spouses, 13 grandchildren, 4 significant others, 4 great grandchildren and Grandma. We spent a great afternoon eating, which is what we do best, and talking. Grandma sitting and keeping watch over us all. When the evening came to a close and our boys were needing to get home to bed, Ryan said good-bye and “I love you, Grandma O.G.” Jake gave Grandma a hug and said, “I love you, Grandma O.G.” I kissed Grandma and she looked me right in the eye and said, “I love you.” I told her that I loved her, too. And we were off for home.
Just as we got home, the phone rang and Dad was calling to say that they had taken Grandma to the ER in Albert Lea. By 10:30 he called again to say that Grandma was on her way to Rochester by ambulance. Very early Monday morning, Grandma was transfered to the ICU. Shortly after lunchtime, Grandma was going to have a procedure done that would take liquid out of her lung. I went up to the hospital. I was there when they came out to tell us that the procedure was successful and that they were able to take 2 liters of liquid out of her lung. This made it possible for Grandma to breath a lot easier. We were able to go in and talk with her and see her. She looked better then she had on Sunday. We were so happy and hopeful. We left to get some food, so Grandma could get some rest. About an hour and a half later, we were called to come back to the hospital, she was not doing well.
Mom and Sarah arrived back, I followed shortly after, and we able to spend sometime with Grandma, just talking and being with her. The doctor soon came in and suggested that we call anyone who might want to be there and see Grandma. As well as the procedure went it was not improving things any faster. Mom called her brother and sisters, and Chris.
Soon Grandma was surrounded by 4 of her children, 2 of their spouses, and the six oldest grandchildren. They took off Grandma’s oxygen mask and we were able to talk with her for several hours. We kissed her, held her, we cried, we laughed, we talked, and we listened. We heard the story of about her and Grandpa’s first date and how he literally fell for her. He fell down the stairs when he came to pick her up.
After several hours, Grandma told us to go home and get sleep. She said I needed to get up and teach those little ones in the morning. We said good-bye and we loved her and then slowly a few at a time we did what Grandma said. We always did do what Grandma said.
We learned Tuesday, that Grandma died peacefully in her sleep early that morning with a nurse by her side. We celebrated Grandma’s life on Friday night at a visitation where there was much laughter and smiles. The funeral home director said that he could tell that it was a celebrations because of the noise level. Saturday was the funeral and the grandchild walked with the casket into the church and most of us couldn’t help but laugh as 13 adults tried to squeeze through double doors with a casket in between us. The church was packed with family and friends and we celebrated the life of a great woman.
Grandma was a beautifully woman who loved God and lived by His word. She was a wonderful example of what it means to live by faith. I cannot say how proud I am to be able to say that I am Marie Gilbertson’s granddaughter! To a lot of people that says a lot and it gives me a lot to live up to. I take that challenge and will proudly try my best to live up to it. With God’s help and Grandma looking down, I know I can!
If you made it through this post with me, I thank you. Some wise person once told me that what we might be feeling is more impatience then sadness. We will miss Grandma a lot but just may we are impatient because we know that we will see them again when we get to heaven and are with Jesus, too!
Don’t live on regrets, live on memories and love.
I love candles. I used to burn them while I washed TV or worked in the kitchen. I loved to burn them while I took a bath, but in recent years, like the past 5, I haven’t really burned many candles. I don’t really foresee me burning them in the near future either. You see once you have two small children, one being 75% monkey, you tend to but everything that even comes close to being turned into a weapon or that could hurt someone, far up as close to the ceiling as possible. This being the case, open flames are not suggested that near the ceiling! It looks as if it will be several more years until I can enjoy the wonderful smell of candles once again in my home. Oh, well. The day will come soon enough.