Our grandmother has died today. I guess that pretty much sums the day since everything else pales in comparison to that event.
She died this morning; I don’t know the exact time; we received word this afternoon. My dad is down in Jacksonville, NC, where she and my divorced aunt and my two cousins live (all this is on my dad’s side of the family).
My two brothers, Paul, 14, and David, 11, did not take her passing very well. That is we’ve never had a death in the family when we were in the US (our grandfather died while we were in France), so my brothers really didn’t know how to handle it. Paul lapsed into one of his “buddy” routines, where he tries to cheer everyone up, before we informed him that was not appropriate. Needless to say, they were cracking jokes all day, acting happy, much to my annoyance and dismay. [people’s responses vary]
Grandma was a wonderful woman, cook, nurse, mother and grandmother to all of us. Although a Catholic, she did not attend church, or mass, regularly. In her lived a spirit and true generosity, sincerity and selflessness. She always thought about others before herself and left, if nothing else, a legacy of humility and an inimitable example.
We’re going down there for the funeral tomorrow, I think.