Day 4,057 —Grammie: My Biggest Fan—

 

My grandmother died yesterday. She had seemed okay a few weeks ago when we saw her to celebrate her 93rd birthday. We always called her “grammie.”

My folks told me she wasn’t doing well on Saturday, so I ran over on Sunday morning and sat with her. I took my family over in the evening and we visited together for the next two days.

She wasn’t speaking and was sleeping during most of our visits. My mom and her brother were there each day and through the night. On Tuesday, hospice nurses arrived and prescribed some medicine, but the verdict was it would be in the next 24 hours. I wasn’t surprised to see my dad was calling me around 4 p.m. yesterday.

I was thinking about her more as I was running. I wasn’t sure where to start.

She has been my number one reader of my blog since its inception. She always read a lot and would write long, informative letters to members of our family. She was the cohesive tissue that kept a lot of us knowing about each other. What I remember the most about her as a kid was how she would always defend me and make me feel better about myself.

I remember one year at a family reunion, I brought all my basketball trophies, so she could take pictures of me with them. It seemed odd in retrospect, but as a kid, I was always happy to share anything that I had done with her. When something had gone right for me, she would comment on how, “wasn’t that just like, Daniel.”

I remember 3 trips where I spent time alone with my grandparents.

The first was visiting their house in Chattanooga. During that trip, I remember spending each day at the pool. My grammie took me to the store to buy swimming toys. I liked the ones that would sink to the bottom of the pool. She sat at the top and helped me count all the rings I collected and would time me.

The second trip was when they lived in Florida. I remember that was my first time flying in a plane on my own. Maybe, I was ten at the time. I got to ride in first class for free! The flight attendants were nice.

They took me to Bush Gardens, Disney World Magic Kingdom, and possibly a state fair.

The longest trip was when they took me one summer to travel with them in their RV. I might prioritize writing about our trips in the next few days.

There won’t be a funeral until possibly July, which for one I am happy it isn’t next week when my race is, but it is a little sad having to wait a while to collectively mourn her passing.