The Space Between

For the past 48 hours, my family has gathered around our matriarch as she transitions from this life to the next. My grandmother is 95 years old, and we have always been extremely close. I can vividly remember many nights spent at her house, not because my parents needed a babysitter, but because I loved spending time with her. Even though she has always been a lot older than my friends' grandparents, she has always been wildly funny and full of life. She was always dressed to the nines in the latest styles with beautiful skin and makeup that was put on just so. I remember feeling great pride in the fact that she was my grandma (and I still do).

She was a woman before her time. Even though she had a strong desire to attend college, it was not acceptable in her family for a woman to do so. She fulfilled her yearning for knowledge by being an avid reader and lifelong learner. Stacks of library books were always present in her bedroom. She moved to San Francisco in her twenties and worked at the Sir Francis Drake hotel. She lived the single life, and from the stories she told, she had a large time doing so! She moved back to Memphis and met and married my grandfather at age 30 (1945). But not before dancing at the Peabody with lots of handsome soldiers as they returned from WWII. She gave birth to my aunt in '46 and did not have my mother until age 40 (quite unusual in that day and time).

And now, after five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, she is nearing the end of her time with us. She is in that space between here and there. As her physical body proceeds through the stages of natural death, her spirit too is beginning to pull away from this earthly body. I have said everything that I need to say (not that anything was ever unsaid between us), and I am at peace. It is difficult, but I know she has not lived fully in the last year or so which has made her ready for the next part of this journey that each of our souls are on. I always wanted her to get to see me become a mother myself, and now that is a reality. I cannot ask for anything more.

I love you now and always, Grandma. May your passage be peaceful. Please say hi to my dad for me!




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