It has been two years as of today that I had a complete emotional meltdown. I lost my great Grandmother on April 6, 2007. I was very close to her. Closer than many people get with their great-grandparents. I had worked the nursing home that she lived in for around three and a half years, and I would even come in to visit on most, if not all of my days off. Her passing was ultimately, one I the hardest and most painful things for me to experience. For more than three years, I spent time with her almost EVERY day.
It was absolutely incredible to sit there day after day and listen to her tell me detailed stories of her past. Not just her past, but a family history. A history that can never be repeated because the memory is now long gone. She would tell me about my grandfather and his brothers. Stories about my mother and aunts, and the trouble they would get into. Life when it was at it’s most simple, and at it’s most complicated points. Nothing can replace that. I miss it.
Now, I’m at the threshold of a repeat, with only a few things different. My remaining great-Grandmother is now in a nursing home. I don’t work there. However, I visit almost every single day. She has stories that she tells me, and I enjoy every bit of it. It just pains me that I know I’m going to hurt the same as I did with Mammaw Elsie. I don’t want to become the person that I had been the majority of these last two years. My mental state was not one of satisfaction and happiness.
So, life goes on. I live and learn, and hope and pray for the better.
My Last Great Grandmother
Hi, we can relate with you. My wife and I are genealogy nuts. We’ve picked our great grandparents brains before they passed and have a lot of those stories on video to show for it. We take those videos, pictures, stories, recipes… anything that represents those fine days you mention and we assemble on our website for our kids to have. We just changed some things over and are working on hooking back up the videos, but the point of my reply is that it’s a shame that many of those untold stories are gone forever unless we take the time to resurrect them while we can. Cheers.
Hey, Sorry to hear about this. At almost exactly the same time I lost my father , Last living grandparent, then my mother, in a three month period… I was a complete mess. It has taken me a couple of years to recover and even try to build back to some sort of normalcy..I was extremely close to my grammy also. It dosent always make sense but now I thank god my parent aren’t here to see what a mess the world is becoming…and it gives me relief that the things of this world no longer mean anything to them, because they are in a way better place!