November 21, 2002
Goodbye Evelyn
So I am driving home after yet another crazy day at the office and I am thinking about my grandmother's death this morning... and the millions of changes that occur in your mind after one of these most simple changes has occured. The memories of what she did and meant to me... and an image popped into my head. There is a black and white picture of my grandparents on a shelf above our TV. It is a candid shot, but they are dressed up... a window onto that special day in their long life together.
I knew what to do... scan it. Crop the shot and write about her on my web journal. I would euligize her in my world... on my terms... from my home.
Mark had called during the morning of meetings and left a message that he was going to put something up on his site about my grandmother. So when I got home I checked the site... and saw this. The tears started flowing very shortly thereafter.
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from www.thatmark.com
November 21, 2002
Time For Mercy
And so this is how it goes.
It’s Stephen, on the phone, in tears, “My Grandmother died this morning.”
We had just been talking about her earlier. I watched the Today Show and there is this segment that always features people who are over one hundred years of age and still going strong.
“I’ll kill myself if I live to be one hundred years old!” I said.
We briefly talked about Stephen’s Grandmother.
She had been extremely frail and in ill health for such a long time now. It was her birthday yesterday. Stephen’s Mom and Dad had organized a little party for her. This morning she is gone. We don’t have any details yet, but I suspect that the thread to life just got too thin. Right now all I can say is that I wish her speed, and light, and finally freedom on her magnificent journey home. The heavens keep expanding as yet another loved one leaves us here to ponder the absurdity of it all.
Have mercy on this day.
And so a new day begins…
Posted by thatmark at 09:51 AM
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It was the same picture... in the exact same crop that I saw in my mind. Maybe this is what happens when someone truly loves you... they become your shared presence, a second soul.
I am a lucky man when you consider that I had living grandparents in my 40s... and even luckier that I shared them with friends and lovers. Both were plucky individuals, each independent in so many ways. My grandfather died hours after his 99th birthday. They took loving care of me when my parents were busy running their businesses and I can only hope to honor their lives by loving others as much as they did me.
Good bye Evelyn... you helped me become myself and I will honor your life.
Posted by stephen at November 21, 2002 4:34 PM