Wednesday, November 29, 2006

no more grandparents for me!

So, my last surviving grandparent is no more.

She passed away peacefully in her sleep last night.

Didn't find out till an hour ago that she'd contracted pneumonia a few weeks ago and had been deteriorating rapidly since then: water in lungs, full of medication, all that jazz. Not fun.

I'm glad she's finally gone.

Some "portraits" of her can be found here and a little snippet here.

The last I saw her was during my short 2-week hop to Switzerland in October 2005;
the last time we spoke was a brief phone call placed when I arrived in the U.S. in July 2006;
the last written communication was the wedding announcement we sent in late September 2006;

The memory of her that I will keep with me is of a particular tradition / interaction we'd have when I was very young: 6 years old or thereabouts. During that time, we went to visit in Switzerland almost yearly, and always during wintertime, because that was when we'd have the long break between school years in Malaysia [unlike the long summer break in the western world]. So the weather would be quite cold, and my grandmother was worried we'd catch cold, what with us not being used to the whole winter concept and bundling up properly against the cold and all....
Her solution - Vicks VapoRub to warm the chest & lungs!
    I looked forward to those "fricsionner" [sp?] sessions, where almost every evening before us kids went to sleep, she'd slather the stuff onto my chest and rub it in,,, then I'd turn over and get the same on my back. MmmmMmMmMMMMmmm! Good touches, given in abundance, contributing to a sense of being loved, of security, of simple happiness. Good times. Simpler times. Happy times.

But, like I said before: I'm glad she's finally gone. I hope she is now at peace, pain-free, perhaps even reunited with grand-papa who went beyond the veil almost 10 years ago.

Adieu, grand-maman.
J'espère que ta place préparé vers ton Seigneur Jésus est tout que tu a espéré qu'elle serait.


[more reflections on death later]

9 comments:

  1. I am sorry to hear that she went, but happy that she is in a better place now. *hugs*

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  2. ...my condolence.... may she rest in peace..

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  3. So sorry lynne dear..Your post tells how affectionate you're...
    My prayers for her..

    take care

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  4. Sorry to hear...
    all my condolonces...
    may she rest in peace...

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  5. Sorry to hear about your grandmother. May she rest in peace.

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  6. So sorry for your loss. Thanks for sharing her memory.

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  7. keep on loving dear grandma in your heart. she's there now and just a breath away from us....amin.

    p/s....28 nov, same as my daughter's birthday.....

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  8. Dear Lynne!

    I am sorry for your loss. Surely she is an a peacful and beautiful place now.

    My thoughts and prayers for you and all your family.

    Love Monsoon

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  9. Sorry to hear about your gandma...

    May she rest in peace..

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about two months later...

 ... hi again. This return to blogging is really not working out, is it? Actually, I am writing, three pages of mind vomit and affirmations ...