Livinglovingandexploring!

November has been a super tough month for my family.

My Grandma, 88 years young, and the highlight of so many people’s lives, passed away last Saturday; November 23rd. Her life was a life well lived. She endured so much sadness; World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, the war on terror – and countless other wars. Not to mention bombings, terrorism, the World Trade Centers being destroyed and more. But, not everything was bad – although the world sometimes was going through a terrible time, my Grandma’s life kept moving forward. She had 8 children with my Grandpa; and they are some of the best people I know. Always lending a helping hand, or a shoulder to cry on and always supporting each other and their families through whatever is thrown their way. They went on family excursions together and always gathered for the Holidays. Gathering as a family is still a tradition now that we all do our best to make happen every year (and by all, I mean the 8 siblings, their significant others, their children, and their children’s children (if applicable)).

It’s absolutely incredible the amount of love and caring that my Grandma and Grandpa passed onto their kids and continue passing on through their love and legacies.

We lost my Grandpa way too soon – if I’m not mistaken, it’ll have been 20 years in February of 2020 that he’s been gone (I was 13) – but we all still remember and cherish every moment we had with him too – and he was QUITE the character. Always had something up his sleeve – a hat company, a bakery, oh gosh, I really don’t know what all of his ideas were, but he was always concocting something or other LOL – and my Grandma was practically a Saint going along with him 🙂

Growing up, I was really lucky – my parents both worked full time and once I went to school, because of my folks working, there were a lot of times that after work, I’d walk to my grandparents home (they lived like 4 blocks or something like that from school in a phenomenal area) and we’d either be baking something, coloring a Fuzzy Art poster, watching ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ or ‘Hercules’ OR eating a giant bowl of ice cream lol.

Sorry – I’m babbling. I know there are so many stories similar to ours. An entire generation of people is passing away and leaving their legacy to their families and friends who remember them. My point is- we all experience loss with the passing of so many people that we wish could just stay with us always. But the great thing about life is the fact that the entire time we’re gifted on this Earth; we’re making memories. Now, the hard part is taking those memories and making the most of them. Hold them close, cherish them and bring them out and reflect on them with the family that IS still here with us! It’s amazing what some simple reflection will do to brighten your day.

Tonight was my Grandma’s wake. We were at the funeral home for hours. We talked, reminisced, laughed and cried a lot of tears. Tomorrow, we’ll be saying one last final physical goodbye and while I’m absolutely dreading everything about it, I know my Grandma is at peace and finally with the man she loved since she was 18 or 19 years old when they wed. It’ll be a long, rough day, but it’ll be worth it. As time goes on, I’ll fill Declan and Tristan in as much as I can about a Grandma who loved everyone in her family with all the love she had.

Thanks for listening/reading!

Take care and love ya,

Kelly Ann