despite the sadness, we had a good time together. ruth has a strong sense of humor and laughed often at all of our silliness. we looked through old photo albums with some holding pictures from as far back as 1955. i found one of busch stadium probably taken in the 70s and grammy was kind enough to give it to me. ruth also passed along our columbia wedding album back to mary. i guess she figured it was best if we held on to it.
grammy ruth walked a mile everyday and lived a clean life. she probably received a half a dozen cards just yesterday from friends. i asked her for some life advice and she offered me two pieces: 1) share, and 2) don't drink beer. as an only child, i sometimes struggle with the first and have been known to not abide by the second rule either. we laughed and decided to not pursue a third offering.
we ate dinner with kathy, kirk, tracy, lynn and dan. halle's lasagna warmed our bellies. in the background, we listened to the radio as the cornhuskers played football against south dakota state. ruth took her medicine about 9 pm and went to sleep shortly thereafter but not before saying her ritualistic goodnight to her husband lambert, who passed away in 2004. kirk and kathy tucked her into bed. mary and i slept downstairs — the first time either of us had spent the night there.
in the morning, mary's cousin jay and his wife came by to visit. jay's hair is getting longer and when ruth gave him grief about it, jay told her that mine was longer. i called him a hippie and we laughed. after a relatively short stay, grammy encouraged jay to leave. she wanted him to get on the road and back to wisconsin. she wanted him to get on with his life. i think ruth believes that this will be the last time she sees jay. next up was mary.
grammy ruth hugged and kissed mary, also telling her that she is very special. it's a tough thing to say goodbye to someone you have known and loved your entire life.
this one goes out to you grammy:
"And instead of saying all of your goodbyes - let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round
Do You Realize - that you have the most beautiful face."
