Sunday, April 19, 2009

Early Sunday Morning: A Thought

When I was in 5th grade, my grandpa Folke, my dad's father, died. He died of skin cancer at 79 years old. I remember my grandmother sneaking me up to the hospital room once, because they did not allow children then. It's hard to explain, exactly: she hid me under her coat. I'm pretty sure that some people did see me.

But this is not about that.

When my grandpa Folke died, and even later when my grandma Judy died, I didn't really think about, as sad as I was, how much sadder my father must be, because these were his parents who had died.

When my neice was about three, I told her that my her dad was my brother, and that my uncle was grandma's brother, and that grandma was her dad's mother, and she threw her hands up in the air and said, "You mean everybody has a family?"

It seems like it takes our whole lives to figure that out.

7 comments:

Lindy said...

Excellent. I thought I'd take time for just one blog post this morning. I am glad I did. Thanks Diane. Good thought.

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

Yes, that is so true. It's so easy to see through whatever our own lens happens to be. For example, when my brother died, my husband's oldest sister kept obsessing about how horrible it must be for my mom to outlive a child. I agreed with her--losing a child is unthinkable--but since I was the one person in my family she had a relationship with, I would have liked it if she could spare a thought about how I felt losing my brother. But she was seeing the event through her own fear of losing one of her kids, and I had to try to accept that.

Barbara B. said...

Yes, true! And I can really relate to Ruth's comments as well.

Jan said...

Thank you to all, especially Diane. Prayers.

GreenishLady said...

What a lovely little story... and especially meaningful to me this week. My sisters and I went to England at the weekend to meet a first cousin for the first time. She had never met any of the offspring of her father's seven sisters (and she's 39 now). The richness of our experience of family became really apparent to me. We remember our grandmother, grandaunts and uncles, know second cousins and their cousins and all! She was desperate to fill in a family tree she'd begun, and was amazed at the extent of the new generation coming along. It was so special to spend time with her. Yes... everybody has family... if they're lucky!

altar ego said...

Love it. My husband and I will be attending a family reunion soon (his side), and it can be a tangle to sort out the biological relationships, never mind the dynamics that spring from them! Blessings on you and your family and your very special mix.

Dr. Laura Marie Grimes said...

When my son was small we visited a church with a statue of St. Anne with the child Mary, and when I told him who she was he said in awe and delight: "Jesus had a *grandma*?"