And This is Why My Grandma is Cringing in Heaven

As you can probably imagine, this week has been a hodge podge of craziness, weeping, stress, surprise at all of the support we've had, and also moments of sheer delight in the aftermath of my Grandma's sudden and unexpected death on Sunday.  

Yes, I said that -- sheer delight.  This story is one of those.  But, I think if you can't find some moments of sheer delight in the aftermath of someone close to you passing, then you need to find people to be around that were close to them too, and you need to share stories.  Share lots of them.  Moments of laughter and joy are sure to be mixed in with the sorrow.

So, back to what happened the other day at my Grandma's apartment.

I don't know if I have mentioned this, but although my Grandma was 90 years old and basically home bound, she still lived by herself.  Because she lived in government subsidized housing, we have only two weeks (plus one day) from the date she died to clean out her apartment.  So, although we have put a hold on doing it anymore until after her funeral, we have already spent hours going through things, sorting, and such.

When we worked for a few hours on Tuesday, I took the kids with me.  They dutifully sat on the couch and watched some television.  Finally, not being able to stop themselves, they climbed onto my Grandma's motorized scooter.  This was, of course, forbidden before.  Well, that's not entirely true.  They used to sit on it, but then Grandma worried too much, and they weren't allowed near it.  Finally able to again sit in this forbidden fruit, they moved the joystick around, pretending to drive it around.


But, then a wonderful and unexpected thing happened.  It was the kind of thing that reminds me why God gave kids grandparents.  My Mom told my Dad that he should take the kids out into the long hallway and let them each drive the scooter themselves.

And, that is why, on Tuesday afternoon, a ten year old, an eight year old, and a five year old got to each take turns driving a motorized scooter throughout the retirement home.  Sure, they got some looks, but there weren't too many people around.

They loved it.  And I loved it.

I stood at my Grandma's doorway and looked down the long hallway that we had walked down so many times before.  I watched as the kids had so much fun, and I laughed.  I laughed so much that I couldn't help but put my hand in front of my mouth.  And then, I had to choke back tears.  But, in the next moment, I was laughing again.  And then back to tears.  It was a crazy melding of emotions, but I loved it anyway.

After it was all done, I told my parents that I figured Grandma was probably cringing in Heaven, watching those kids riding her scooter down the halls.  She probably was turning to my Grandpa, her husband of 57 years prior to his passing 15 years ago, "Howard -- do you see what he's letting those kids do?"

Sure -- she may have been in Heaven cringing, but I really hope that she was just like me.  I hope she was staring down that hallway -- laughing and crying and then laughing some more.