This is my last post in honor of my grandma, who passed away last year. I am thinking about continuing the old photos though, because I love it. Old photos are so fascinating.

So, bonus! There is more than one photo in this post. It was too hard to write with just one photo, knowing that this is the final in this series and there is still a couple things I wanted to talk about.

This is my grandma, grandpa (who passed away 10 years prior to my grandma), and their first born son, Kenny.

Kenny passed away when he was 12 years old, a freak accident. He was at a pool party, apparently dove into the shallow end of the pool, and hit his head, knocking him unconscious.

It was hard for me to understand the grief I’m sure she felt, before I had kids. Frankly, it’s still hard for me to understand even after having one of my own. On occasion, I think about that morbid scenario, or another where I lose Brian, but I don’t get very far before I stop. It is unthinkable.

A lot of time with my grandma when I got older is wrapped up in family history. More talking, less playing, you know.

Thinking back now, all my family history questions and investigation when I got older was probably hard for her. A lot of photos of Kenny were away in boxes, which I dug out. I looked at his obituary, I took pictures of it. I am sure she had a deep, abiding pain. What would his grandkids have been like, who would he have married, what would he have been.

Then I try and remember this moment above, where we visited her cousin who she hadn’t seen in a long time. They looked at old photos and mementos together, and had fun. I hope that the questions I might have raised in her mind were balanced by remembering the “good old days” as well.

Her funeral was difficult, but I am so thankful to have had one last thing I could do for her, in honor of her. It was soothing, to create the memory boards, just as it has been soothing to write these posts.

I only existed in the last part of her life. But I tried to encompass all her life, and everything I knew about her in these memory boards. Photos on colorful flower paper. Photos of cousins, siblings, baby photos, teenage photos, marriage and vacations, her own children, graduations, and all her grandchildren.

It’s a little mind blowing, when you think about it.

Here I am, with a child of my own, and I can’t help but think about how time moves forward. I only wish that I also live a long fulfilling life (hopefully with less tragedy), with grandchildren I can hope that I touch as much as my grandma touched me.