Rest In Peace Grandma Flo

Last week my husbands grandmother passed away.  She was ill, and we know she's in a better place, but of course it's still hard.

I delivered the eulogy at her service over the weekend...I hope I did her justice.

We are here today to grieve, to mourn, and most importantly to celebrate. When I think of Flo, so many things come to mind...sitting around a table for hours playing rummy--you'd better not win, or else you MUST have been cheating! Bobby & Julie acting crazy in ...Bob & Denise's kitchen and Gram dropping an "Oh hells bells" OR "Oh geez, oh Pete", what's wrong with these kids?!?! Or the famous, Hey Mark, can you get me a shake?...just tell them, "not too thick, not too thin!".

Gram was such a character, she was a mother, a friend, a grandma, most recently she became a great grandma, and she was always a fighter. We did the math and realized she'd been fighting for over 25 years...can you even imagine?!?! That's almost as long as I've been alive. I have trouble imagining having that much strength or that much faith. They say, "Faith is the knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof." Grandma's faith was strong...so, so, strong. In the Bible Jesus tells us, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in My Father, trust also in Me. In My Father's house there are many rooms, if it were not true I would have told you. I am going now to prepare a place for you." I know that our Lord had prepared a place for Grandma and she is no longer suffering, she is no longer in pain, and she is smiling down on us.

I want to take a moment and address her children, Denise, John, Steve, Mike, & Dave...if there's one thing I can say to comfort you it is that your mom loved you all so much. I know that she'd want to thank all of you for taking such good care of her over the years, and if there is one thing I can say with the utmost of certainty it is that your mom knew how VERY much you all loved her.

I ended with a poem titled, God's Garden.

God looked around his garden
And found an empty place,
He then looked down upon the earth
And saw your tired face.
He put his arms around you
And lifted you to rest.
God's garden must be beautiful
He always takes the best.
He saw the road was getting rough
And the hills were hard to climb.
So he closed your weary eyelids
And whispered, 'Peace be Thine'.
It broke our hearts to lose you
But you didn't go alone,
For part of us went with you
The day God called you home.

Gram, we love you. We will think of you often, remember you always, and look forward to seeing you again.