512-259-MIMI
in Giggles,Thoughtful Thursdays on January 9, 2019
My family is nearing the sixteen year anniversary of my grandmother’s passing.
Wow.
Sixteen years.
In some ways I cannot believe it has been that long, yet in other ways, it feels like she’s been gone for an eternity.
I was incredibly to close her. Mimi. That was her name. I, being the first grandchild, had the privilege of naming her. My mother was hoping for a Grandma or maybe a Granny…something normal. We already had my great-grandmothers named as a Mamaw and a Grocemama (German for Big Mama). Naturally, my mother wanted something a little more normal.
The family legend has it that I was throwing an award winning fit (Imagine that? Me? Throwing a fit.) while sitting in my high chair. Evidently I was upset with my mother. I was hovering around a year old…the only distinguishable word falling out of my mouth was, “MIMI“. Finally, my mother called her mother, and told her the situation, followed by:
“I think she’s crying for you.”
Mother put the phone up to me, Mimi started talking to me, and I calmed down instantly.
I’m sure my mother groaned inwardly as she thought about another ridiculous name for a grandmother. But, the name stuck; seven more grandchildren and three great-grandchildren later, she was still Mimi.
My youngest child was ten weeks old when Jesus won Mimi’s battle with lung cancer. I remember the evening I got the call.
The call.
Until the very, very end…I talked to Mimi every day. I called her on my way home from EVERY doctor’s appointment, with every pregnancy…considering my kids are all a year apart, those in and of themselves added up to a LOT of phone calls! If I didn’t call her, she would call me. Over the years, the memory of her voice and certain inflections have begun to fade. But her face is as fresh in my mind as if I had seen her yesterday.
It’s hard for me to NOT to question God’s reasoning for taking her when He did. My family needed her. I needed her. I still do.
I’m beyond thankful for the years I had with her. The wisdom and unconditional love she imparted to me is priceless. I’m thankful she had the chance to meet my children, although it saddens me that she did not have the opportunity to know them. She would be so proud of how they are turning out. She would shake her head at the similarities between my boys and her own.
You can’t outrun genetics.
My heart still aches, when in an unconscious moment, I reach for my phone to call her. I still know the number.
I have so much of her in me…the way I “wife” to my husband…the way I mother my children. She was so much more than a grandmother. She was my inspiration, and safe haven. One day I will see her again. But until that day, I will cherish the memories of her, and behave as though she were still watching.
