Grandma’s funeral

We had Grandma’s funeral set for Monday June 6^th. There were quite a few people there; more than anticipated. They had to bring in more chairs to accommodate everyone. It was wonderful to have so much love and support in the room.

Mindy came from Pittsburgh. Over the time that we went to school she got to know Grandma from our many trips to go visit her. I was so happy to have her come. The Wesleys’ came up from Columbus. They are always there through the good and the bad. John, a really good friend of mine showed up. He saw her obituary in the paper and wanted to come show his support. It was so great to see how my friends cared, I am so blessed with their friendship.

I remember turning around at one point as I saw a few more people come through the door, and I recognized Kevin. Now Kevin is a friend of Dad’s, he just hired him to come work for Variety. He is from California and in my head when I saw him I thought, wow that looks like Kevin but why would he be here, in Ohio, at my Grandma’s funeral?!?! That’s when I noticed 7 or 8 others from Dad’s work walk in after him. They all had boarded the company jet that morning, visited a few stores and flew in for the funeral. I know it touched dad; t touched all of us! It just shows what kind of company Dad works for. To have the friends we have is so amazing.

I did surprisingly well during the whole event. It helped to have Mikey in my arms. Every time I was sad or started to cry, looking at him made me smile. I was given 2 opportunities to say something. I shied away, I don’t like to cry in front of people and there was no way I could. So I figured I would post here what I would have said if I could.

~Grandma and I had such a special relationship. I was her doll baby, and she let everyone know it too! We were night owls. When I would stay with her we would lay in her bed until 2 am watching game shows. Love Connection was her favorite and I of course I loved it too! She was always up late… to the point that I knew I could call her anytime and she would no doubt be awake. I exercised this knowledge back in February 2008. Joe had just boarded the plane to Kuwait and I was a mess. It was 1:00am and I couldn’t sleep. I needed to have someone tell me it was going to be ok. My roommate was sleeping and I didn’t want to wake her even though I knew she would have been ok with it. So I dialed up Grandma and she answered. She was awake of course and talked with me for a good 30 min. She was able to calm me down and without her I am sure it would have been a sleepless night. Grandma was always interested in my love life. When I was dating someone she always wanted to know the details. When I was single she was on the prowl for me. In fact one time she tried to hook me up with a nail technician. Oh Grandma! Not once did she mention great-grandkids until I met Joe. I told her about Joe and she immediately said… OOOh I can’t wait for your great grand babies! She nailed it! That is why it was so important for me to have her meet Michael. She was so happy to see us. She promised me to always look out for him, she will be his guardian angel no doubt. Knowing that I am at peace. I am going to miss seeing her smile and holding her hand but I know she will always be with me like she has always been.~