![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonI got a call from my father early this morning that my grandmother died about 3am last night. She was my father's mother, the Irish side of the family, in her 90s and in seriously declining health, recently moved from her apartment to assisted living and then to hospice care, but I think this caught us all by surprise just the same.
I can remember her even in her late 80s, thin and bird-like, smoking like a chimney, drinking like a fish, sharp as a whip and sitting at the dining room table whipping everyone's ass at poker. She is the one who after her husband came back from WWII and began to physically abuse her, put up with it for a time -- until the very first time he hit her son, then she picked up and moved out without a second thought, not common in the 1940s, especially for someone with few resources. She raised two sons as a single mom, and raised them well.
She's one of my heroes, and now one of my ancestors, and I am going to miss her presence. She was also my last living grandparent. I feel incredibly blessed to have had her so long, and now, as we all do sooner or later if we live long enough, I move up one notch in the cosmic family tree, with both parents thankfully reasonably healthy, but noting that the wheel of mortality turns on, inexorably, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.
New life, and death. Joyous beginnings, and the deep and painful mourning of what has passed. My life has been very full last year, and in this new one, of both sides of the great balance. Momentarily at the fulcrum of the leminscate, I am blessed by the past, I am blessed in the present, I am blessed by the future, and I bless, and give thanks, as I am blessed.
Thanks be to the ancestors, and to those yet to be born. And especially, especially, thanks to all those of you who are here and now. Each and every one of you is a blessing, and I am grateful.
I can remember her even in her late 80s, thin and bird-like, smoking like a chimney, drinking like a fish, sharp as a whip and sitting at the dining room table whipping everyone's ass at poker. She is the one who after her husband came back from WWII and began to physically abuse her, put up with it for a time -- until the very first time he hit her son, then she picked up and moved out without a second thought, not common in the 1940s, especially for someone with few resources. She raised two sons as a single mom, and raised them well.
She's one of my heroes, and now one of my ancestors, and I am going to miss her presence. She was also my last living grandparent. I feel incredibly blessed to have had her so long, and now, as we all do sooner or later if we live long enough, I move up one notch in the cosmic family tree, with both parents thankfully reasonably healthy, but noting that the wheel of mortality turns on, inexorably, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.
New life, and death. Joyous beginnings, and the deep and painful mourning of what has passed. My life has been very full last year, and in this new one, of both sides of the great balance. Momentarily at the fulcrum of the leminscate, I am blessed by the past, I am blessed in the present, I am blessed by the future, and I bless, and give thanks, as I am blessed.
Thanks be to the ancestors, and to those yet to be born. And especially, especially, thanks to all those of you who are here and now. Each and every one of you is a blessing, and I am grateful.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 04:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 04:38 pm (UTC)Love to you.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 04:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 04:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 04:49 pm (UTC)Strength, love, and much support surrounds you. Ask for what you need and breathe it in. It's yours.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 04:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 04:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 04:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 05:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 05:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 05:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 06:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 07:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 09:44 pm (UTC)What is remembered lives.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 10:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 01:52 am (UTC)Unfortunately we are in the midst of moving this weekend and may not be able to stop in to pay condolences, I'll see what we can do.
Be strong my Brother.
M
no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 01:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 04:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 06:53 am (UTC)Traditional Egyptian prayer for the dead:
A thousand of bread
A thousand of beer
A thousand of every good thing.
May she ascend!
no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 04:10 pm (UTC)Blessings for you dear brother and all your loved ones.
(Send me her full name for inclusion in the list of beloved dead at Samhain.)
love you ...K
no subject
Date: 2009-01-25 07:30 pm (UTC)