November 20, 2007

I awoke in very much a somber mood today. The approach of today has been on my mind a lot lately. Today, we celebrate and remember my beautiful grandmother whom we affectionately called "Lita". I can't believe two years have passed. There are still many times when I am visiting my family that I feel that she should walk through the door and take her place at the table next to her sisters. I don't think I will ever get used to being without her.

She was such a peculiar old woman. She enjoyed dipping her bread in her juice, she only liked to eat the ends of the bread loaves, she liked her tortillas burnt to a crisp, loved her drinks to be piping hot, she was THE pickiest eater I have ever known but she loved anything with shrimp in it. My Lita gave us many things to giggle about and it was so cute because she was completely oblivious to it. I miss walking into church and giving her a kiss on the cheek and sitting next to her and playing with her old woman hands. I miss a lot of small moments I often shared with her. Through all of her silly quirks of one thing we were all certain: She loved the Lord with all her heart. She was disciplined in her reading and praying. Her heart was always ready to serve and give. She was also very eager for the Lord to take her home. Each year she would say she hoped this was the year she would get to go home.

My Lita's life was a hard one. She endured much loss in her life but she was such a hard working woman. I will always admire her for her courage in being a single mom, in a new country, raising her 3 youngest kids in such a different culture than hers. She left behind a beautiful legacy and I am so blessed that God granted me as much time as he did with her.

I want to share one of my favorite stories of her. I was probably about 10 or 11 years old and we were having some kind of birthday party at our house. The house was packed with family and friends. I remember it was really loud with the chatter of adults. The house felt stuffy with the summer heat and children were running in and out of the house yelling and laughing. I walked into the house and stopped in the living room for a moment to be nosy about the conversation being entertained by the adults. Somebody suddenly said, "Carmelina (that was her name) your skirt!" I looked over at her and there she was sitting in a chair with her skirt around her ankles. There entire room erupted in laughter. My Lita was laughing so hard she couldn't even stand up to fix her skirt, so she sat there for a few minutes in her slip trying to compose herself before finally adjusting her clothes. I will never forget how hard we all laughed. I don't think she was ever able to live down that story. She never did seem to mind.

My small, beautiful and quirky Lita. I will always love her and always miss her.

someone actually snapped a picture of that moment. Makes me laugh every time.