Reflections

On Tuesday morning Brandon's Grandma Martin passed away. She has had trouble with her heart for a few years but we were all still pretty surprised. I am ashamed and embarrassed to admit that I don't know as much about this sweet lady as I could have. Sometimes I think we let the day to day things of life just get in the way of taking care of relationships and the people we love the way we should. She's always just been Brandon's funny Grandma who always made us laugh. She must have been an amazing woman because she lost her husband when Brandon's dad was still in grade school and she managed to raise eight kids all by herself. I think that is quite an accomplishment. I just wish I would have taken the time to learn more about her and all she accomplished in her life.
This has been the first time we have lost someone that Maddy has been able to somewhat understand what is going on. She has a lot of questions and understands that when you go to heaven your spirit leaves your body, but she's really hung up on the how. She keeps asking how does your spirit leave your body?, how does Heavenly Father take your spirit to heaven?. She's been very sweet, this has brought up a lot of really strong feelings for me just remembering when I lost my grandma and grandpa. I had the best grandparents in the world, they were such an important and active part of my life, and I still miss them very much. So I have been reflecting and somewhat more teary eyed then normal and she wipes my tears and says "It's okay mommy you'll see them again in heaven and they watch over you from heaven." Well that makes me cry even more. I am grateful for the relationship I had with my grandparents and the knowledge that I will be with them again.
I am also extremely grateful for the wonderful grandparents my kids have. I think that the grandparent grandchild relationship is one of the most important we can have on this earth. My kids are so blessed and lucky to have four amazing grandparents, and two great-grandparents who love to spend time with them and are such an important part of their lives. Our parents are amazing grandma and grandpa's and mean the world to us. I am so grateful for temples and eternal families. Nothing matters without someone to love and someone who loves us, for us family is everything. I have decided I am going to spend more time with the people I love and enjoy them while I have them in my life. I'm also going to try to let them know how much they mean to me while they are still here. I'm not going to let my being busy or not having the time make it so I don't take care of the people I love.