It wasn’t too many years ago when I opened up a box and found some biographical sketches my great aunt had written. There were probably 15 or so stories of my relatives, yet none of them were exhaustive. I wanted more. Then, my great aunt’s very, very brief autobiography appeared. It was interesting and quite unusual. These prompted me to write a reflection of my own grandmother and give it to her only daughter, my mother, on what would have been her 100th birthday. So I had gone back into the recesses of my mind and wrote about “things” and funny “stuff” and personality.
There was my grandmother’s generosity, her wonderful fudge, and chocolate chip cookies. There was the time she left the lid on a “Fry Daddy” and melted it with the potatoes; and when she was told that Petroleum Jelly was a good conditioner for her hair (it wasn’t, as she said 3 days later). Then, there was her faith in God which was genuine.
My grandmother has been gone for nearly 17 years, so these memories stay with me. They are not poor substitutes for the real grandmother, but this is what I have along with many, many pictures.
Really, we never forget, nor should we. But the pictures, recipes, music, trips taken, hand-made clothes, smiles, words of wisdom, faith, kindness to the unfortunate, and generosity to the needy are the very things that keep our loved ones “alive.”
Handling Grief 