We have been cleaning out my parents' house, and that would be the royal we. I have contributed in only a minor way. It is an emotion-filled task disassembling a house full of memories and parsing out the treasures. I've been sent off with various kinds of memorabilia, including some pieces I wrote in honor of my parents, individually or together, for various momentous occasions. I've debated about whether I should share those pieces on this blog, which is meant to be about Emma. But I've decided I will share a select few for two reasons.
First, my mom and dad, Gram and Gramps, were central figures in Emma's life. They doted on her and spent as much time in her company as they could. Early on, Gramps proclaimed Emma a "hot rock," his highest praise; and Gram, well I'm pretty sure, next to us, she was probably the person most hurt by Emma's death. Visiting her in the nursing home the day after Emma died was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. The only thing that can compare to a mother's grief is a grandmother's grief - grief times two.
The second reason I've decided to share these pieces is that they exist now only on the fragile dot matrix computer paper they were printed out on so many years earlier. The electronic files are long gone. By including it in this blog, they become part of a more permanent record.
So I'll start with my next entry, the eulogy I gave at my father's funeral, a little over 11 years ago.
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