September 24
We celebrated Matt's Grandma Jo last month, both her life and how she lived it, and the posterity she leaves behind. After many ups and downs and scares, she passed away on September 19, 2011. It is always hard to say goodbye to someone you love, but Grandma Jo was more than ready to move on and see her sweetheart, Grandpa Rex, who passed away about a year and a half ago. My mom happened to be visiting at the time, and Matt was out of town on business, so we were pretty out of it with the arrangements for the funeral, which we felt bad about. Luckily Matt was able to change his flight and get home the night before the funeral so that he could attend. My mom was a lifesaver because she stayed home with Emilyn so that we could go with Matisyn and actually be present for the day. We weren't sure if we should take Matisyn either, but she handled everything really well, better than I expected. I think it was her first time at a viewing, seeing someone that had passed away (the girls and I were in California when Grandpa Rex died), and although she had some tears, she seemed to understand the reverence of the affair and also that Grandma Jo had gone to heaven. She entertained herself with her cousins, David, Sam, and the triplets before the funeral, and sat well through the service. Matt's mom and her brothers did a great job speaking, and even Matt learned a few new things about his Grandma. All of the grand-kids and great grand-kids sang together the EFY Sisters in Zion and Armies of Helaman medley. It wasn't the original plan, but it turned out beautifully. Next we went to the graveside. A highlight there was an idea from Matt's Aunt Mary. Everyone got to let a balloon go at the same time, sending up their thoughts, hopes, and prayers to Grandma. We also sung Grandma's favorite song from Wicked and took turns placing a rose. Before we headed home, we went back to the church for a luncheon. All in all it was a great tribute to Grandma Jo's life, and we are so proud to be part of her posterity.
First of all, so sorry to hear about your Grandma -sounds like she lived a good, long life though. Second, Matisyn's hair looks adorable all curled! So big girl. Third, I really like Matt's man bag :)
ReplyDeleteLet's get together soon, we are finally feeling recovered from new baby.