On the day that I am writing this entry, it has been exactly 25 years since my Grandma Scott passed away. Even though I won’t go into the details of how it unfolded from my point of view, I still remember it pretty vividly. And, although I had lost a grandfather when I was in kindergarten, I didn’t totally understand what it all meant at that age. I was sad, but I didn’t truly get it. When my grandma passed away 25 years ago, I got it. It was really the first major death that I had to process, and of course, it wouldn’t be the last.
I was very close to both of my grandmothers, so losing one was very hard. I would lose the second grandmother a little over two years later. Both of them had experienced prolonged illnesses before their passing, so I remember spending time in the hospital and/or long term care with them before they died. It was some pretty tough stuff for a young girl. I have spent a lot of my life wondering what they would have thought about my life in high school, college, my working life, getting married, and now having a child. I feel like they would have been pretty proud, but they would have loved me no matter what I did. Even to this day I still miss all of my grandparents very much (I also had a grandfather that passed away long before I was even born).
I share some of my background here because I felt that I got to spend a lot of time with my grandparents before they passed away. After they all died, I have been pretty jealous of those people who still have grandparents. I also get pretty mad at those who seem to take theirs for granted. Of course, there may be legitimate reasons why people don’t get along with their grandparents, but assuming that is not the case I encourage you to spend as much time with them as possible. Don’t take these individuals for granted, and enjoy the time you can spend with them.