When Grandparents Die

There are such a range of emotions. First, the acceptance that it is for the best. She was sick for a long time and immobile, making her quality of life unbearably poor. Then reality hits, and you realize that you will never see her, talk to her, hug her, send her Mother's Day cards (here come the tears), or bring her salads from Whole Foods again. That stage is difficult to cope with, but it passes fairly quickly. The next stage is finding peace within yourself and telling yourself that you visited as often as you could, brought photos with you, and did the best job you could of letting her know that you were thinking of her while she was in nursing care. And then you're back to accepting that it is a blessing in its most difficult form; the peace that she has found is far better than the doom and gloom of a nursing home environment.

For those of you who have already heard about my grandmother's passing via my Nest post, Facebook, email or any other source of communication, please don't feel obligated to comment again or express your condolences. I realize I've talked about this on every available forum in the last 3 days. But we all go through the grieving process in different ways, and apparently I'm handling it via my keyboard this time around. :) And thank you- those words have meant a lot to me.