Tuesday, February 04, 2003
The Dance of the Dead
My grandmother passed away this evening, barely an hour ago actually. While it's nonetheless a shock, the woman I knew as "grandma" had left several years ago. You see, grandma had been suffering from small strokes for several years that affected her ability to communicate in any verbal way. I'm not sure we always realize the importance of speech. Needless to say any conversation was somewhat one-sided and you were never quite sure if she was grasping what you were saying to her. I think she did understand and she was very much a prisoner of her own body. I can't begin to imagine how frustrating that must have been for her.
My grandmother was very much a believer and was an active member of the Catholic church. We never spoke of religion though which I now find somewhat odd but I guess she thought it was more of a personal thing to her. Now comes the rituals as she'll be remembered and buried in full Catholic regalia so to speak. Perhaps ironically it's also the only way I know growing up in that environment and I find funerals not macabre as some do but rather a gathering of comfort. I don't think we'll remember her as the frail woman of the past few years but more of the person she was when I was a boy, a kind woman, silent but strong underneath. For you grandma and only you, God Bless.
My grandmother passed away this evening, barely an hour ago actually. While it's nonetheless a shock, the woman I knew as "grandma" had left several years ago. You see, grandma had been suffering from small strokes for several years that affected her ability to communicate in any verbal way. I'm not sure we always realize the importance of speech. Needless to say any conversation was somewhat one-sided and you were never quite sure if she was grasping what you were saying to her. I think she did understand and she was very much a prisoner of her own body. I can't begin to imagine how frustrating that must have been for her.
My grandmother was very much a believer and was an active member of the Catholic church. We never spoke of religion though which I now find somewhat odd but I guess she thought it was more of a personal thing to her. Now comes the rituals as she'll be remembered and buried in full Catholic regalia so to speak. Perhaps ironically it's also the only way I know growing up in that environment and I find funerals not macabre as some do but rather a gathering of comfort. I don't think we'll remember her as the frail woman of the past few years but more of the person she was when I was a boy, a kind woman, silent but strong underneath. For you grandma and only you, God Bless.
