Grandma Arnold

We buried Grandma Arnold on 3/18/06.
It was a great Catholic funeral...as funerals go. We did the Rosary the night before, and the church was packed for the funeral the next day. I didn't realize how loved and involved Grandma was in her church "doings".
My Grandma A. was a consumate Catholic...a fact that I became keenly aware of (since I am not) at her rituals. I did get to see many of my extended family while there...some, I just beared with, others...like my cousin Theresa, my uncle Joe, and my great cousins Ron and Dennis, were a breath of freah air. :-)
The priest said, in his sermon that: We can go to the moon, but we can't seem to find the time to visit close friends and relatives, that we can hit the internet with lightening speed to find out the latest scores or stock qoutes, but we can't find the time to talk with our family members, or write a simple Thank You.
He was right. I tried to connect, on a very personal level with anyone I have felt love for, in my family, while I was there. I touched their arms while talking, and I looked them in the eyes. I focused on them 100% while we were together. I did it more for ME than for them; I wanted a memory to savor.
An amusing story (to me, but maybe not you). My second cousin ( Dennis Arnold) was there to honor Grandma A. too. I distinctly remembered him from a family reunion in 73-76 at the church hall in Rartitan, ILL. He rode in on a Harley. As a teenie boper, I not so subtly begged, " Please give me a ride!" And he did! WoooHoo! At that moment, I fell in love with bikes, and him. He's changed a bit since then, as have I, but he acted like he remembered me, and the incident fondly. It was a bittersweet reunion, and I left Dennis with a smile.
It's a shame that we don't connect with some people, i.e. distant, and not so distant relatives, in our later lives, unless there is a funeral. I got several e-mail addresses, and I've shot them all an e-mail...but the truth is, that...... I bet I don't get 20% back. We are ALL so busy in OUR small lives, and I, too am guilty.
To all of you who miss and love some ones.........I hear ya.
Theresa Ghaforian (?), where are you? Come stay at my house sometime. 2 of your brothers have.

Grandma A.

My last Grandma died yesterday, she was 97 and5 days shy of 8 months. She wasn't ill...she simply quit eating just after Christmas. She said that she missed Honk (my Grandpa who died in '86) and she wanted to be with her parents and brothers and sister.
My Dad is there to help her out, as is my uncle Tom. Losing 2 children before you "go" has to suck! I have no children to morn my passing. I'd like to think that my nieces and nephews will pine over me when I go........but this next generation of "humans"......don't really give a damn about anyone besides themselves.
Is that crass? Probably, but from what I've seen out of this "next generation"...............GOD help us. Bu and large, they're lousy parents, they'd rather be "friends" with their kids than be parents. HELLO!! Kids never respect their friends, so why are you mystified when your kids don't respect YOU? There is plenty of time in the future to form friendship bonds with your kids. About the time that THEY start lamenting about how disrespectful THEIR kids are.
Maybe I've been blessed in not having children. Over the last 25 years, I've spent many a night crying my eyes out because I never had any children.....I thought that I was cursed, un-deserving. But now, maybe GOD did me a favor. Granted, I'll still probably die alone, but at least I won't have held out all hope that little Susie or Mikey will love me
with the same kind of love that I hold for my mother. I think that THAT kind of love is a thing of the past.
Que lastima.
Gotta run, the dryer is dinging. TTFN