reminded

i was reminded this thanksgiving in a very real way about what's most important to me and what i'm most grateful for. just after we finished our thanksgiving feast, my dad got a call that my grandma allen had passed away.

everything else about the holiday quickly became unimportant. two things mattered: my family and my loving savior, jesus christ, who designed families to last forever.

i am grateful we were all together as a family, and especially grateful that my sweet grandpa was with us, when we got the phone call. i am thankful to know that i will see my grandma again. i am thankful that she didn't suffer but passed away quietly and peacefully. i am thankful for the life she lived, for the children she raised, for the mother and wife she was. she has always been an example to me and especially recently, she has shown me what it means to happily endure to the end and make the most of your current situation. how lucky am i that she was part of my life for 24 years!

this is the first grandparent i've lost, and i will really, really miss her. i'll miss stopping at the nursing home to visit her. i'll miss her humor, her stubborn personality, her stories about packing up the kids and heading home to elko when their heat money ran out or when she just needed a hug from her mom, her to-do lists for my grandpa, and her sincere love and care for all those around her. i am sad that my kids will never know my grandma allen; she would have loved them. in the last few years, she often asked me where my kids were. hopefully she's hanging out with them right now and teaching them the important stuff, like how to knit, how to survive the cold cache valley winters, and how to make marriage last for 60 years. and i hope she'll give them a little encouragement and prodding to come here quickly!