7 Weeks & 1 Day Ago, Joseph Said….

They were bookends, in a strange way. Seven weeks and one day ago was my mom’s funeral, and yesterday was her brother’s funeral. When they died, she was 105 and he was 3 hours away from being 104.

I’d been wanting to share with you what our son said at her service.  First I was going to do that the next day, but it all felt too raw. Then there were too many other follow ups to take care of after her funeral and the rest of everyday life happened and suddenly it was Christmas and my  uncle had died.

He and my mom and their deaths and their funerals were, indeed, like bookends or something. My cousin and I touched on that as we stood talking by the two fresh graves yesterday.

So today, maybe in an effort to find some of that legendary  “closure” that seems so elusive, here with his gracious permission is what Joseph (also known as LJ4) told about my mom, Ruth Morgan Baldwin Neber Scheets at her funeral —

Grandma Ruth had a yellow convertible.

We would ride in it, going places on what she liked to call our “Adventures.”

We talked about everything.

She explained things to me so I could understand them.

Grandma Ruth taught me about watches, and about time.

She would fix me meals, always something simple and delicious, like Macaroni and Cheese.

When she would drive, with her hands on the steering wheel at 10 and 2, I would tell her, “This is best day of my life!” “This is fun, Grandma! “Let’s do this again sometime!”

And that’s how I remember my Grandma Ruth: in one word, fun.

— And yes, I’m proud of him. He did great!