Remembering Great-Grandma

The children's great-grandmother died this last week. While we're sad we won't get to see her anymore, or get her emails - as she was a Star Trek loving, GameBoy playing, email writing kind of Grandma, we are celebrating with her, a gentle passing. After all, she lived for 92 years, was saved, and passed peacefully, with a minimum of pain. So, praise the Lord!

We opted to keep the children at home, under my care, while my husband made the whirlwind trip back to the west coast for the funeral. Funerals are not the best places for small children, and winter roads being what they are, it just seemed better not to take them. I'm so glad we were able to make a trip out last month for them to see her while she was still alive.

The children, and I, lined up our own sort of memorial service at home. We set up a tea party (did I mention that Grandma was a Red Hat Society member?), and watched Grandma's story on video, together.

A decade, or so ago, when we thought Great-Grandma was getting on in years, my husband taped a series of video interviews with her. He filmed, and asked questions, and Grandma spilled out the story of her life. At the time, we viewed it more as a history project, but knowing her age, and the age of our children, we were pretty sure there would be at least a few who would not remember her, when she was gone. Now they'll be able to hear her story, in her own words, and see for themselves who she was.

I'm sure we'll be spending our weekend fielding a few of the bigger questions of life and death, like "will there be video games in heaven?", and that sort of thing. But in between tears, and silliness, we'll also spend some good time remembering a sweet lady, and a life well lived.

It's great to be a homeschooler.