Holidays always hold a great deal of reflection for me. They represent a passing of time, a choice of traditions continued, a sense of light and good spirit. The holidays are a time for me that I cherish and this year was no different. It was amazing and beautiful and filled with a blend of new and old. Oddly enough one of my favorite parts of the holiday is an old tradition that has a new charm, Christmas with my family. Not my family meaning my hubby and kids, but FAMILY meaning my great aunt and uncle, aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, a second cousin's adorable daughter. I mean the people who have known you since the day you were born or you have known since the day they were born.
By no means is this the first year I have seen this FAMILY around the holidays, but as life has happened the tradition has changed, ebbed, flowed, disappeared and returned. It has been the years since my grandmother's passing that has cemented this tradition in my heart.
My grammie passed away September 9th 2010. It was a relatively quick few weeks. . . One day in August she was fine, then she wasn't, then we found out her cancer was terminal, and then she was gone. It was fast considering that she lived to see her 80th birthday days before she died. It was heart breaking, devastating, sorrowful, and now in reflection beautiful.
Of course, every day of my life I would choose to have my grammie alive, but what she left us with is remarkable. . . she left us with each other. She left us, aunts, uncles, cousins, family; but she left us together. She left us with memories of five weeks spent in her tiny trailer, she left us with laughter from retold childhood stories, she left us with favorite recipes, she left us with a new understanding of each other, and she left us with time we will all keep in our hearts.
She left us before weddings happened, before my beautiful niece was born, before my own children had had enough time with her, but her parting left a bond. We will all keep her memories more alive for ourselves and our children, because we are more connected. My children will better know their FAMILY because of the time I spent with them that late summer. We can see my grandmother shining through in the eyes of my aunt, we can see her off-color sense of humor come through as we sit around playing games, we can see her love of sports come through as people yell at the game on TV.
My grandmother is with us all the time in a million little ways and what she left behind was a FAMILY forever stronger for having loved her.
