One Thing I Would Like to Share with Those in Heaven

There are many people in heaven, and if I had the opportunity to talk to them one more time, I have things I would want them to know.

The picture in the header is the memory arrangement paying homage to the special people who couldn’t be at my daughter’s wedding. Many of them are the people I would want to speak to one more time. This topic will be covered in multiple blogs because there are so many I would like to share with you.

Many of my family members have given me such great memories, and I was too young when they passed to realize that I should have told them this.

My dad’s mom, Grandma Luella, was a tiny little lady. I think she may have stood a whole five feet tall. She worked at a family-owned local retail store called State Street Store. The store was located on State Street, hence the name.

When it was my birthday or near Christmas, my grandma would ask me to come to the store and pick out something special for my gift. I loved this! She had a nice discount, so I always got something I wouldn’t have gotten since the store was expensive.

Christmas 1992 was coming upon us, and in our regular routine, I met my grandma at the store, and she asked me what I would like. I never had a luxurious nightgown. This year’s gift would be a silky, colorful gown that made me feel like a princess. My grandma took me to the lingerie section in the store to show me some options. She showed me a beautiful pink, baby blue, and white gown. It was floor-length and had thin straps. I fell in love instantly. The material was so satiny and silky.

My grandma put the gown back for me, and she would wrap it up later and slip it under the Christmas tree. Even though I knew what I was getting from my grandma and grandpa for Christmas I was still so surprised because it was an extravagant gift for me.
Christmas morning came, and when we went to my grandparents to celebrate, I opened my nightgown and was thrilled it was going home with me. I slept in my beautiful gown every night. I loved my grandma!

January 1993 arrived, and one evening, as I walked into my house, my phone rang. I answered it to hear my aunt incoherently saying something on the phone. “What?” I said, “I can’t understand you.” She spoke again, “I’m at the hospital with grandma. You need to come here.” I rushed to the hospital ER to find my family in the waiting room. My grandma had collapsed at home and was in extreme pain. My grandma didn’t come home that night. We had lost her.

I still have that special nightgown that Grandma and I picked out just a few weeks earlier. I will never part with it. I want her to know I still touch it and connect to her and our last shopping trip together at the State Street Store.

My Grandpa Earl was Grandma Luella’s husband. He was a very tall man and suffered from polio as a child. I remember he would limp as an adult from his childhood affliction. I loved my Grandpa Earl!

Grandpa Earl and Grandma Luelle lived in our town, so I saw them often. My dad worked for a car dealership, and usually, when I was young, he would win trips. He and my mom would go to many fabulous places that were all-expense paid as a reward for my dad’s high sales. I liked it when they went on these trips because I got to stay at my grandparents’ house, and I would sleep on the living room couch. My grandpa would fix himself a snack of cheese and saltine crackers every night and pour a beer over ice.

He would always set his snack down on the side table and sit in his big black leather chair to watch “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. I loved this time with my grandpa. He would chuckle at the show, and I think he may have thought I was sleeping, but I was taking in every moment. I hold onto these memories.

My grandpa died over the 4th of July holiday a few years after my grandma’s passing.

I would want my grandpa to know that I often think of him and his nightly ritual. These late nights with Grandpa Earl are some of my happiest childhood memories.  My Grandpa Earl and Grandma Louella are in the back of the picture below.

My grandfather, who lived on my mom’s side, lived in the Chicago area, so I didn’t see him often. He was my Grandpa McKean. He was a Methodist minister for many years when my mom was growing up. He later became a school counselor in the school system. He always served and counseled others no matter what profession he was in.

His lineage is impressive and can be traced back to a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a descendant who arrived on the Mayflower.

Grandpa Jim died of heart failure over Labor Day in 2009.

I would love to talk to him again about my ministry with Grateful Gratitude. He would be very proud of me for becoming a certified gratitude counselor. I know his heart to serve was passed to me. I feel the satisfaction he must have felt when he did this work. I loved my grandpa, and I know I am doing this work because of him!

I never met my mom’s mother. She died before my mom was married in February of 1962. My grandmother underwent emergency surgery on New Year’s Eve in the 1950s. Things were not regulated back then, and the surgeon who came in to do surgery on my grandmother had been at a New Year’s Eve party and was under the influence of alcohol. During the surgery, he made an error that would cause my grandmother to undergo many additional surgeries and eventually succumb to the doctor’s mistake.

I do have a void in my life, knowing my grandmother passed because of a senseless mistake. If I could talk to her just once, I would tell her that even though I never knew her, I love her and thank you for giving me my mother.  My grandparents, Jim and Joan, are below.

There is also a man in heaven that I met through the chamber. His name was Tony Crockett. Tony would come to networking every Tuesday morning with a smile and a hug for me. He was a very optimistic man. He had served in the military and owned his own jujitsu business. He was known for his patience with teaching kids.

One day, Tony stopped coming to our morning networking. It was announced he had pancreatic cancer. I knew that was a very tough diagnosis, and the odds of beating it would be slim. Tony and his wife went to Mexico for holistic treatment for this type of cancer. After a few months, Tony came to our meeting again. He was a shell of himself. The last time I saw him, he was buff and very muscular. He was now fragile, but the smile and hug were still the same offered to me.

Looking at Tony, I knew things were probably not going as he had hoped. I told him, “Tony, you are so positive and have touched my life. I just want you to know that!”. He hugged me with his frail body and said, “Thank you!” Tony died within a short time. I so enjoyed seeing Tony, his freckles will never be forgotten nor will his smile he gave me so unselfishly. Below is Tony.

There are other people in heaven that I would like to talk to one more time, but I will leave that for another blog post.

Although family, friends, and random people pass through our lives, they may not know they are creating special memories for us that we will cling to. I cherish these people and the tangible and intangible things they gave me. Until we can speak again, all you wonderful people, I would like to thank you. You have significantly contributed to who I am today!  See you all in Heaven.

You may not be on my earth, but in my heart!