Grandma E.

A few weekends ago, Mel, Emma, and I went to see my grandmother in the Twin Cities area. She has been suffering from cancer for the past several months and had stopped treatment. This morning I got the phone call that I had been anticipating for some time. My grandmother had passed away. We had been hoping to return to the care center at which she was staying in a couple weeks to see her again, but that will not happen now. At least she got so see her great-granddaughter Emma again before she passed. My mother had been visiting her this weekend and told me this weekend that Grandma was not doing too well. As I have indicated, I can't say that I was at all surprised, and she is now free from any suffering she had from the cancer, but it is still sad nonetheless.

This is the second grandparent I have lost this year, with my mom's father passing away in March, less than two weeks before Emma was born. My dad's father died when I was in eighth grade, so I have had three only living grandparents for about twenty years now. Now I have just one grandparent left.

I didn't think that I would be too upset when my grandmother, my dad's mother, died, but it has been a little difficult. In the fall of 1997, when I was student teaching in Council Bluffs, Iowa, I lived at my grandmother's condo there. At the time, she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Living with her during that time, I was able to help her out when she needed assistance getting to doctor appointments and with shopping. I had a good time living there. Maybe that is part of the reason this is somewhat difficult.

Perhaps another reason why losing Grandma E. is more difficult than I thought it would be is that I am losing a connection I had with my father who passed away a little over two years ago. Of course having her around wasn't the same as having my father, but it was a connection to him.

Mel, Emma, and I will be heading up to the Twin Cities this week to see Grandma one last time before she is cremated. I am just glad that we were able to see her a couple weeks ago when she was still cognizant of her surroundings and that everyone else in the family was able to make it there to see her.