In Memeory of Grandma Caroline

I read this poem at her Vigil on Sunday night. I'm glad I could be there and say something. It's so hard to accept how things have changed - it doesn't seem real yet. Please keep my family in your prayers.

Grandma Caroline
For me, Grandma Caroline was many different things:
She was family Christmas gatherings and warm crackling fires.
She was warm summer nights on the patio with owls hooting in the trees.
She was old-time music from a radio that seemed even older and a simmering pot of potato soup that was always ready for you when you arrived.
She was a removed pool table because family dinners were more important, clean laundry when college days demanded it, and a haircut to all the boys.
She was homemade apple sauce and perfectly seasoned coleslaw.
She was an apple pie to a hurting friend and the listening ear at the end of the phone line.
She was a shoulder for tears, a prayer for strength, and an embrace for comfort.
She was a story re-told every time a new family member entered the room, the inventor of "sick tired!" and the tenderness in the endearment “doll baby.”
She was the exclamation "Isn’t that amazing?" at the end of every spiritual story and the beacon when you’d lost your way.
She was freshly brewed coffee – anytime of night, and early morning conversations in her rocking chair while the others still slept upstairs.
She was the counter of the shades of green and gold as the fields turned, and on Memorial Day, she was flowers for the loved ones who’d passed on before her.
She was a card in the mail, a lunch at Taco Time, or a thoughtful gift when encouragement was needed.
She was the pride for every one of my accomplishments and the cherisher of each sketch, poem, and project.
She was the worrier that got us home safely and the phone call at the end of the journey.
She was a mother, a wife, a grandma, a neighbor, a friend.
And even now, though we are left with just these memories, I continue to see her all around me:
For TODAY she is the selflessness I see in my aunts and the humor of my uncles.
She is found in the love for a friend, the compassion for a stranger, and the kindness in the giving.
She is the strength I find in her children and the passion of her grandchildren.
She is the faith when I’m discouraged and the encouragement to never stop seeking the Lord.
She is the moral that keeps me doing what’s right when wrong is so much easier and the lesson in life when I’d rather not even look for it.
She is found in the bond of a family that values time spent together and in the support of a community that holds each other up.
Today, she is a loving memory that will never lose its beauty and the living strength carried on in the kindness of every life she touched.
-Megan Dobroth