In Loving Memory

Grandma Dorothy passed away last night around 9:15 pm. She left us all with the most precious gifts that we have ever received, her words, her thoughts and her prayers for all of us. On Sunday we arrived in time for her to hear our final goodbyes, tell her how much we loved her, how much we will miss her and how we will see her again. She knew it was "her day". She was very much alert, joking in her fashion, she filled the room with laughter for the last time. She said the Lord's prayer for all of us, she prayed with her Priest, she sang songs that she used to sing to us and looked forward to seeing her family and loved ones in Heaven again. She told us we will all get through this. One of the most tender moments for me was when she started saying, "now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep....." she finished that sweet prayer that we have always said with our children every night. I knew in my heart that the part about "if I should die before I wake" really was about to happen and I knew the "Lord her soul would take". I will never forget that. She lost consciousness around 4 am on Monday morning and would not come out of it. We stayed with her all day and after many of us had left last night, she passed away. Peacefully. We said our goodbyes to her one last time before we left yesterday and as soon as Mark and I were done she became really restless, I felt as if she had heard us. She was the most special person to us and life will never be the same without her in it. We already miss her greatly. We are thankful that her suffering was for a very short period and that she was able to live quite independently up until last week. She was the funniest person that I knew. I look at Mark and he has so many of her qualities. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful memories with her. Phyllis asked myself and Stephanie if we could go shopping for an outfit for Grandma to wear, I was honored to do this and we found something that was just perfect for her that matched the necklace Mark and I had bought her last year. She will always be beautiful. Due to the holiday and the church's schedule her visitation will not be until Sunday and her funeral Mass will be on Monday at her church. We will truly celebrate her life and all that she has done for her family and her friends and community. Heaven is her home and we can't wait for that glorious reunion with her. Thank you for your continued prayers and messages, this will be a difficult week for sure but we will get through it just as Grandma said. On a side note, the first night that Myah slept in her big girl bed was the night that Grandma died, Grandma had given us her mattresses to use for Myah because she always slept in her chair where she was comfortable. The mattresses were like new. I never got to show her how beautiful Myah's bed looked when I was done with it.