Delivered on September 24th 2009
I know we all have memories of my grandma that will stay with us throughout our lives. For me the earliest are also the happiest. So often in pre-school and during kindergarten, my mother would pick me up from school and the three of us would go to lunch. Grandma always sat with coffee in hand, telling stories, asking questions, and filling us with the glow of her happy spirit. We ate grand slams at Denny’s and breadsticks at the Olive Garden and whether or not she cared about the subject I was speaking on, she would always listen.
My grandma was an angel. Not of the kind who sits atop clouds in the radiant light of innocence; but a coffee drinking, candy loving gambler who in all the days I knew her filled our world with boundless love and jovial happiness. She touched our lives and the lives of her children’s, children’s, children. Her existence and her memory will always be a lighthouse guiding me through the darkest hours of my life, toward the sun that was always shining bright, just beyond the horizon.
Today we grieve her passing, not for her, but for ourselves. We fear the emptiness and the tragedy of our world without her. We wonder how we will fill the emptiness and where we will find the light.
We need not worry, for the gift of her life is in the sustainability of her spirit. It lives in the warmest concaves of our hearts. We need not lament her passing because she has simply returned to the place of our foundation, an angel looking out not just for us, but now for all the world. She, like us all, is part of the ancient heavenly connection and her spirit will never be forgotten.
To her, I must say, I will miss you deeply. You meant more to me than I was ever capable of saying in words. You are and will always be that warmest place in my heart, and I love you.
