Photo:Grandma & Grandpa Pack (Joseph & Hazel Pack)I miss them both SO much.
Photo:Grandma with her sons (my Dad on the left)
I saw my grandma today,...
in the garden center browsing the shelves of tulips & various houseplants.
Strolling the isles of herbs & vegetable seeds, taking slow quite strides, not in any hurry.
I saw her from the side, couldn't really see her face, just the silver gray hair, styled the way she always did..wearing just an old red pok-a-dot blouse with a safety pin holding the top closed where normally a button would have been in its place. I was sure it was her, down to her flowered print skirt that didn't match & the black clog type of shoes on her socked feet.
My breath caught in my chest & the whole world stood still.
In awe I couldn't speak...I was frozen, memorized for that moment...
to see her alive for this brief encounter,..
she was walking & humming to herself as she sometimes did.
Then in a flash the image was broken,..an unfamiliar face turned & looked up at me.
Startled...I smiled at her awkwardly brushing past her quickly & turning around the corner down another isle..as my heart began to ache & pound...reality came crashing through... because it was not real.
I stifled back the tears for the years I have missed her...I had to get out of the store...I saved my tears for my ride home. Once in my truck I took a deep breath & the tears kept me company on my drive; not just sad ones... but thankful ones,...for that brief memorizing moment,
where I was reminded of the kind, gentle, flower loving, quilt making, funny lady that was my grandmother before the disease of forgetfulness had stolen her from us years before even her death did.
I was instantly taken back to the walks in the woods with her I had took & the stories she had told me, & the time we spent on the front porch 'snappin' beans' together & talking. I was reminded how she held each one of my children when they were small & how she had loved them so enthusiastically.
I could even smell the flowers she tended in the numerous flower beds in her front yard.
I know it wasn't her...but the lady I saw was so similar that for that one moment...it brought back so much.
It was nice seeing grandma today.
~KellyRae Huber
May 13, 2009
My Grandmother: Hazel Edith Baker Pack
Died at age 89 on Mar. 3rd, 2003
Suffered with Alzheimer's for many years.
Check out this upcoming event in Facebook Events:
Beyond The Rain - Fundraiser For Alzheimer's Association
World Premiere of an Original Play by Weldon Payne of Manchester, TN
Start Time:
Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 7:30pm
End Time:
Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 2:00pm
Location:
South Jackson Civic Center, Tullahoma, TN
Street:
404 South Jackson Street
City/Town:
Tullahoma, TN
