RIP Grandma

Grandma went downhill last weekend. We visited her on Sunday. She was in and out of sleep and difficult to understand when she was awake. She had requested that we bring the girls to see her, so we did. It was a chance to say goodbye; she passed away at 8:45am Monday. Mom and Marie were with her.
Honestly, this is about the best way things could have happened. When we visited her the weekend before, I don't think anyone was ready to really say goodbye. This way we had a week to prepare and say goodbye. But since she was only sick for a week, she wasn't in prolonged pain. And since we knew it was only a matter of time, Mom and Marie were able to be with her.
It was still a rough week. The visitation was Wednesday. A lot of people came to pay their respects and show love and support. I'm thankful for that. The funeral was on Thursday. Dad officiated the service (is that the correct verbage?) so I sat next to Mom, with Marie on her other side. We spent a good chunk of the service crying. Grandma is having a wonderful reunion with so many loved ones, but we miss her here. One song in particular got us all. "I've Got a Mansion" was the last song Grandpa played on the organ, for a relative singing a special at church, before he had a heart attack and died. They sang it at his funeral 33 years ago. I think we may have sang it at Durwood's funeral (my uncle and my grandparents' only son), but Mom and I couldn't remember for sure. So of course, we sang it at Grandma's funeral. Or rather everyone else did while we cried.
When we went to the cemetery, I took pictures of the gravestones of different family members. Grandpa and Aunt Carla are buried there, along with both Grandma and Grandpa's parents. Since the mosquitoes were horrible and the girls react to them like I do, we put them with Chloe and Haylie in the Expedition, where they were watching a movie. The result? Ella laid on the horn (on purpose) in the middle of Dad's prayer. :s Oops.
I learned a lot of things I hadn't known before. Three of my four great grandparents on that side lived into their 80s. It appears I probably have a long life ahead of me. Carla was born alive, as the doctor was walking in the door of my grandparents' house. Mom says she probably would have lived if she had been born in a hospital, but instead she died that same day. I knew before she was a twin. But she was born and died on June 19, 1956. Brian and Amy, my twin cousins, were also born on June 19 (in 1979). Odd, yes? There were other interesting facts too, none of which I can currently remember.
I didn't see Grandma that often but I miss her already. It's just knowing I won't see her again here, the finality of that goodbye. But I'm glad she's not in pain and she's in heaven, reunited with so many of the loved ones she's mourned over the years. Now those of us left behind will mourn her and celebrate her memory and legacy. Rest in peace, Grandma. We love you.