What Are You Remembered For Florence Leary?

On September 15th, 2006 my grandmother, Florence Leary, passed away peacefully in her sleep.  I wish I could say the entire process was peaceful, but she went through a lot of pain from her rheumatoid arthritis, especially in the last few weeks.  Thankfully, she was able to finally decide it was time to move on from this world and hang out with god, which meant the increased medication could help her last few days be restful.

Spending time with my family talking about grandma Leary got me thinking about what it is people remember about her.  Here's what I always think about when I think of grandma.

Accepting.  I only really completely realized this during grandma's viewing, though my mom had mentioned it.  She welcomed everyone and was kind to them regardless of what major events or issues had happened.  After my parents divorced, my grandmother continued to be my mom's mom.  She also cared about and accepted my uncle (by marriage into the family) when he was lost both in life and with his marriage.

Once you were a part of the family, grandma was there for you.  She was also open enough to tell you when you'd messed up or when you needed to change.  At the same time she was glad to tell me how proud she was of both my brother and I.

I try to accept those around me and even make people I've never met feel comfortable.  Once I hear some negative news about someone it gets harder for me to treat them quite the same.  So far as I could ever see, this wasn't the case with grandma.  I only hope each of us can be so loving.

Peace,
+Tom/Bob

posted by Tom at 12:45 PM