I've just returned from my very first job as a baby nurse. Five hours and a state away, I found myself in Gastonia, North Carolina. The family I was working with was very friendly and laid back. The perfect job for me to start my training on. They had premie twins; a boy and a girl. Now, the mother is Icelandic, so I'm hopeing the names she chose were an ethnic decision... Haldora, and Herbert. Thankfully, they went by their middle names.... Caroline, and Hunt (which was shortend from Huntington).
Inspite of the mouthful, they were tiny and precious. I fell in love with them at once. My responsibilities as a baby nurse would include: feeding and burping them...changing their diapers, keeping the nursery clean, and making mum a smoothie with lots of vitamins and healthy things to help her recover, as well as cooking for the parents each evening. Whew! What a load. It wasn't so bad, until you get through two or three nights of feedings... 1am...5am... I would average 4 hours of sleep every night. Never all together mind you. Anyone thinking on having children, I strongly suggest you do it one at a time. With twins...everything takes twice as long. I was getting the hang of things as we neared the end of the second week...
On the evening of September 3rd as I was finishing up with the cooking, I received a call from my sister-in-law, Annie. "Hey Joni, How are you?" That was all she said, and I knew what the call was about. "Grandma died, didn't she?"
She had been taken to hospital the week before by ambulance, so I knew that it was a possibility. In fact, at 92, I'd been waiting for it to happen for some time and was happy that she was hanging in as long as she was. Gram was so stubborn, I knew she wouldn't die until she was good and ready. I'd known it was coming, and yet it still came as such a shock to me. Gram had always been there...she was like a cozy old piece of furniture that you knew you could count on.
I hadn't known my Grandma very well. We would visit on Christmas, or some other significant holiday, but that was it. Then, I went to live with her while I was going to college, and we got to know each other really well. I would write down story after story of the things she would do and say... I was going to write a book called "19 going on 90."
Gram would get confused alot. I'd wake up in the middle of the night, and find her in the kitchen making granola, or bread. She would tell me a funny story, and we'd laugh until our sides hurt. One time I was working in the kitchen and had bent down to pick something up off the floor, when she reaches out and pinches my bum, then runs away giggling. She was such a tease! On another occasion, my brother Jordan was doing a hand stand in the living room, just with-in her reach. She stuck her toe out and kicked him over... then sat there lauging as he gathered himself together. She managed to make the trip down for my older brothers wedding... swearing that she would be there, even if in a casket. I've never met another person with so much spunk and feistiness.
One thing I remember about Gram was how much she loved babies. She would ooh and ahh over them, and talk about them often. Whenever a new one entered the family, she would get so excited, and show pictures of them. You would often hear her recite this poem...
All of my years have vanished and gone
And I'm certainly growing old
Comfort my days with one starting his
Oh give me a baby to hold!
About a week and a half before she passed away, she asked my mum to take her back with her to McBride for a visit, saying she "wanted to go home." McBride is where she raised her family and made her home for many years. So, mum consented and they made the journey north.
I kinda wonder if she had a gut feeling that it might be her time... old people tend to know these things. Even if not... its a nice thought to me, that she wanted to go home to die. I would.
That night as I looked down through my tears at Hunt and Caroline, I couldn't help but think of the life they had just begun, and the one so dear to me that had just ended. I'm so thankful for the time I spent with her, and all the memories we have together. She will be greatly missed...
2 comments:
Joni, thank you for sharing these thoughts with us. Your record of some of the close Grandma-Joni moments brings a real sense of the appreciation you had for her.
I remember visiting her home on numerous occasions during that year you were living there in Abbotsford. Also, I remember a couple of occasions when she came to visit us at Radiant Living. There was always the feeling that this was a special lady. Of course, it was true.
It's a real blessing to hold onto the hope that Christ promises to us as Christians. There's coming a day, very soon I believe, in which all those asleep in Christ will rise again as He triumphantly bursts through the clouds of heaven. Then, "Grandma Olive", with all her "spunk" won't be as you were - 19 going on 90... But, rather the opposite, 90 going on 19!
Hold on to that hope, and ensure that a reunion takes place! God bless you and your family, especially during this time.
Hey Joni! You have a BLOG?? Sweet! You always journaled (journalled? journalized? I dunno...) so much, it seems that a blog would be just the type of thing you'd do. :-)
Well, it seems like you're really having quite a great time! I wish you all the best. I think that what you're doing now is totally down your alley, and that you're gonna love it. God bless, Joni!
Never get down, cuz God is up. ;-)
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