So long, Great Gram

 Paul's grandmother passed away on Tuesday; she would have turned 96 in December. Like me he never met one of his grandparents. In his case it was his mom's father. In my case it was my dad's father. His other grandparents passed away in 2004 and 2005. His mom's mother had lived with them for many years. He was very close to his Nan. For a few decades his father's parents had lived in the house next to Paul's parents' house. Paul worked at the plant for years with his Pop. Great Gram loved to make things with her hands. She made each of our Christmas stockings. She made and framed a cross-stitched piece of artwork for each of her great grandchildren (including my three kids). And the list could go on and on of the many things she made for people throughout the years. On Friday afternoon Paul's mom asked if I would be the Scripture reader and if the kids would sing at the service on Saturday morning. I chose some verses from the end of Romans 8 and Christ the Lord is Risen Today. I picked that hymn for the kids in part because they had learned the first verse of the hymn in kids' choir at church and also it seemed to be a good hymn when focusing on the joy of knowing that Great Gram is now in Glory with her Lord and Savior.

This occasion meant that we were able to see some of Paul's extended family whom we generally only see at weddings and funerals. We had seen all of them a little less than six years ago at Gram's 90th birthday party. The two women pictured above with the kids are Pop Pop's sisters. On the left is Aunt Marlene (who lives in CA), and on the right is Aunt Diane, who lives in Florida. We visited Aunt Diane in 2013 when we were in Florida. Pop Pop's brother (Dick) passed away many years before his parents did. Dick's daughters (Paul's cousins Lisa and Jessica) were there along with their mom (Aunt Barbara who is pictured at right), their husbands, their children, and one granddaughter. Oliver enjoyed playing with Olivia who is Lisa's three-year-old granddaughter. Since Lisa is Paul's first cousin, if I am understanding how the cousin terminology works, I think that means Olivia is Paul's first cousin twice removed. I think it also means that Oliver and Olivia are fourth cousins. It's confusing if you ask me! Paul's Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bill were also there albeit they are relatives from his mom's side of the family.

Ian loves to tell jokes whether that be puns or knock knock jokes, etc. Some of his jokes are funny, some make absolutely no sense, and some are a bit too obvious to be funny. After the funeral there was a time for cookies and coffee in the church's fellowship hall, and then the family went to a restaurant for a meal that was served family style. Ian was sitting across from Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bill, and I think he kept them rather entertained. As someone said that day, Ian looks like me the most (of our three kids) but he certainly takes after his dad in several ways -one of which would be that he laughs at his own jokes (just like Paul does). After the meal, most of us went back to Paul's parents house. People stayed varying lengths of time. We stayed until a little after 7pm. The fact we spent the day with extended family made me feel a little better about our decision to cancel our vacation. We got the money back from Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg ($169 total between the two), but we didn't get the money back from the time share ($289). The kids were already at

Colonial Williamsburg once (2015). I think we'll wait maybe five years to reschedule our visit to that site, but I'm hoping that sometime in 2019 we will make it to Jamestown and Yorktown (just two days not an entire week). Hopefully whenever we do Colonial Williamsburg again we can also visit Virginia Beach. I have many fond memories of that beach as we went there many times as my dad's cousin and his family lived there.

Gram collected angels. Although her collection had already been purged a few times over the years, she still had a lot of angels in her efficiency. Many were on display at the church on Saturday and guests were encouraged to take as many as they wanted. Oliver only took one but my other two took a few each. Some are ornaments we can display on the Christmas tree.
The kids each also picked one of her stuffed animals to take  home. At Paul's parents house they had photographs and jewelry up for grabs. I selected one necklace and one pair of earrings. Nadia picked a lot

more than I did. At church today she was wearing earrings, a necklace, and a bracelet that all used to be her Great Gram's. Gram was the only great grandparent that any of our kids met as all the rest had passed away before they were born. We used to see her at family gatherings (ex. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, the kids' birthdays, etc.), but lately she hadn't been leaving the assisted living home even for those events. Ian and Nadia remember her, but Oliver doesn't. So he was VERY confused as to who died. He kept thinking it was Grandma or Pop Pop (Paul's parents) who died and at the restaurant asked if it was Aunt Debbie who died (nope she's alive and well and sitting at the same table eating with you, LOL). He also was very confused as to what a "funeral" was. He kept referring to it as a party, and since he's been obsessed with water balloons the last few months, he asked if there would be water balloons at the "party." Um no. Although it was a joyous occasion as the Lord granted her desire and called her to Heaven, we didn't throw water balloons. As Pop Pop said during the service, considering his current age (will be 76 in December) it won't likely be that many years until he is reunited with his Mom in Glory.