Eternal Memory

This morning, the Feast of the Archangels, Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Rafael, my Grammy died. Grammy was my father's mother. She was born in 1919 (she always said she wanted to live to 2020). She would have been 89 in October. She was a hoot, too! She always had a joke to tell, sometimes the same one once or twice. She always told us the story of how she used to sign her name before she married Grand Daddy: "Well, it was LO for Lois. V for Vivian. And E for Ellis. But that was before all this love stuff!" As a wedding gift (one of the many she gave us!), she sent T and me several vintage $.20 stamps that had LOVE spelled out in flowers and vines, "because two of these will cover postage now." She would tell us about the time she forgot to screw the cap on the ketchup bottle, and shook it all over the kitchen. She explained her daily exercise routine--starting in the back bedroom, she'd march through the long hallway, past the dining room and kitchen, through the living room and step up onto the fireplace hearth, step down, and march back to the bedroom. She liked Ritz crackers spread with butter. Grammy had a four bedroom house, but she always said "It's really just a one-bedroom, with three walk-in closets!" (One "closet" was mostly full of her sewing stuff. Gram was a great seamstress! I made this shirt from material she sent me.) She had a passion for material--all sorts of material! Most of the time, when she'd visit a fabric store and buy material, she didn't have anything planned to use it for. But if she really liked the pattern she would buy a yard or two, fold it nicely (Grammy was a fabulous folder!), and put it in one of her walk-in closets. Occasionally throughout the year, she would take various pieces of material out, unfold them, look at them and say, "My that's pretty!" And fold it nicely again and put it back in the closet :) We will miss Grammy. She was full of life and LOVE and wonderful stories. But, she had a "good long run" (as the saying goes), and we'll see her again. I'm sure of it.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Blessed are they whom You have chosen

and received, 0 Lord.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

They are remembered from generation

to generation.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

In blessed repose, grant, O Lord, eternal rest to the soul of Your departed servant, Lois, and remember her forever. Eternal Memory! --Excerpts from the Byzantine Office of Christian Burial