One Granny in particular, Miss Liz, was especially memorable. She was one of the most tenderhearted and gentle people I have ever met.
When you would talk to her about her family or the scrapbook, her eyes would immediately moisten, her bottom lip would quiver and her voice would start to crack.
The expression of thankfulness for not being forgotten would get lodged sideways in her throat to where it felt like something choking her with emotion. She knew the stories of her kids by heart. She had just about memorized them. Her devotion to her family was deep and heartfelt. She felt honored at the opportunity to be involved in the lives of these children. She prayed for them daily and prayed with them whenever she was on the phone with them or with them on family outings.
But, there was something Miss Liz hid from her family until it was too late.
She was dying.
The end came swiftly and shook the lives of her family forever.
This would be the first experience for all her adopted family to have someone they were close to pass away.
When we gathered at the funeral home to say goodbye the atmosphere was thick with emotion. Miss Liz’s kids were all there and dressed in their Sunday best. Some of the young asked their parents to take them to buy a coat and tie for the first time in their lives. They wanted to look their best for Miss Liz. Their own families were there to help them through this time for they too had been touched by this incredible widow.
What’s the most memorable thing about this experience?
The students having to grapple with death for the first time? No.
The way it drew other families together and to support their own 7th graders in time of grief. Important, but not ultimate.
The most memorable thing was as students would arrive and walk tentatively to the coffin to view the body, they would almost all burst into tears at the same sight. Not the sight of this loving woman whom they would deeply miss.
No, it was the only thing she requested to be buried with her, the thing she was clutching to her heart…the family scrapbook!
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