REMEMBERING GRANDMA

[WIZARD]

REMEMBERING GRANDMA

The house she lived in for so many years
Seems empty to me now,
Except for the memories that linger here.

In the kitchen is that special chair
Where my grandmother sat …
But she's no longer there.

I can still see her fetching smile
When I close my eyes
And think about her for a while.

Her laughter, too, was special to hear.
Actually, almost a giggle
Of joy and delight when loved ones were near.

Her hands were knurled and full of pain.
The arthritis ravaged her bones;
But finally she is pain-free once again.

We will miss her each and every day.
But we will never forget her.
She'll live on in our hearts in a special way.

And we can treasure the many things she said,
For each day she'd give a lesson on life
Or share some story she had recently read.

She was thrilled to turn 100 years old
And have her mind as sharp as ever.
She felt that was a gift greater than gold.

"How do you do it?" I heard someone say.
"Keep going with all your pain?"
She replied, "I wake up happy every single day."

She loved to sit on her front porch in the sun,
Or watch the fireworks over the city
After the baseball games were won.

She was proud of the many years
She lived in that house alone, and
Not being able to fix it up was her only fear.

"My mind knows what needs to be done,"
She would frequently say.
"But when your bones don't work, it isn't any fun."

She gave us all lots of words to live by
That she had come to believe.
Like, "No man ever needs to cheat or lie."

Grandma-isms (as I like to call them)
Overflow in my memories now,
For on any occasion she'd be sure to have some.

"There's always a snowstorm on St. Patrick's Day,"
She'd remind me every year.
"So don't be putting your boots away."

I gave her a stocking for Christmas last year
And she said, "Oh, I had a stocking once!"
The story she then told made my eyes fill with tears.

Hard work and struggles made her so strong,
But she never complained about her life.
She'd say that's what kept her going so long.

There is an empty place now in my heart,
And I miss her dreadfully,
But with so many memories, we'll never really be apart.

She often said her mother was waiting up there
To welcome her into Heaven.
And now God has answered her final prayer.

Anon