DD has 7 great-grandparents alive. SEVEN. I've lost one grandparent, when I was 10. I don't really remember it. I've never lost another family member. Neither has DH.
They are all getting old, and we know that before long we're going to have to deal with death. One of my grandmothers has been in failing health for a while...in and out of the hospital, recently moved in with an aunt of mine so that she can have constant supervision. She recently got over a broken arm. I just got an email that she had a heart attack last night and is at the hospital in Kyle.
Her first great-grandson (Dos) is due to be born in four weeks. We are having a family wedding in two weeks where cousins from all over the country are flying in to be together (with all our kids--her great-grandkids). I have this impending sense of foreboding that we are going to lose her before these two big moments.
I'm so sad. ![]()
Please keep her in your T&Ps, that she recovers once again and is able to be with us for a long time yet.
ETA: I recounted. eight. EIGHT great-grandparents still alive. (thanks to divorced/remarried parents)
Re: I don't know how to deal with this.
Gosh, I hope she makes it through. That is a lot of grandparents! T&P to all of you.
I remember my first experience with a grandparent passing. I was angry about it, even though she was sick for a very long time. Its okay to feel that way - especially since this is more sudden. Either way, its good to know she has a long life full of loving family.
Ditto this. Three of my grandparents died while I was in high school and I never met the fourth. The three died very painfully from Alzheimer's, Parkison's and a brain aneurysm.
(((hugs)))
I'm also about to lose my grandfather. He's in his upper 90's. The thing that helps me is something he used to say in his 70's. He went to the dr. who told him he was in perfect shape- to keep it up and he would live to 100! My granddad (who has always been active, in good health, etc.), replied, "No thanks!" My granddad wanted his years, even the last ones, to be quality. At this point, he is growing more senile by the day and I know, if he were able to see himself from the perspective of the 70 year old at the dr.'s office, he would say he was done. kwim? It makes me sad and I am going to miss him, terribly, but he has lived the most amazing life. He will live on through our stories.
Thanks, ladies. We had an unplanned visit with her last weekend for an entire afternoon and dinner, and it was awesome. I know she's fed up with being old and feeble--she's the spit fire of the family and it drives her crazy to have so little spit and fire left. Her husband is still alive, but all but gone as a result of Alzheimers. She still goes to visit him daily, though.
I'm sure we'll try and get down to see her one night this week.
I guess I just don't really know how I'll react to death. I've never been to a funeral.
Its not fun. I was in the room when my grandmother passed last year (when they shut off the machines). It was very peaceful and I said goodbye. I said the eulogy at her funeral and that was also helpful in helping me to get through it. Death is such an odd thing. Sometimes I think about it and can appreciate that she isn't in pain anymore and other times I want to tell her something and reach for the phone and it hits me like a ton of bricks that I can't talk to her anymore. Its so hard.
You and your children are so blessed with family! I will keep her and you in my thoughts and prayers.
The funeral will not be the hard part. The funeral will be where you get to bring your whole family together and remember her. There will be as many smiles as there are tears.
I'm so glad y'all got to spend time with her! That sounds like the perfect afternoon, and she sounds like an amazing woman!
This is good advice. We lost my step-grandfather (who was the only grandfather I'd known - he and my grandma got married after my dad graduated from college) after a long illness and, while I didn't have the chance to visit him before he passed away, I did get to write him a letter thanking him for always treating us like we were his grandkids and always loving us the same, etc. When he was gone, I didn't feel like there was anything that I felt had been left unsaid and that he got to hear it while he was still in good enough health to appreciate what was being said.
I will definitely keep your grandma in our prayers. **hugs**
ugh...sorry to hear K...that stinks. I'll keep my fingers crossed that she pulls through.
On a sorta different subject...I'm 5 seconds away from the hospital in Kyle. Let me know if you want me to watch A while you and RSSN have a visit (I can come up to the hospital, a local park or she can come to the house...anything works for me). I don't do much of anything after work.