Our sweet Grandma Dottie passed away early Saturday evening. Actually, she went up with the shuttle (literally, to the minute). She always had a great sense of humor. Above is a picture (with a smaller Kalee) of her a couple years ago before she was diagnosed with lung cancer. I had the great honour of being with her when she passed & I just keep saying how great she did; such grace. There is no way to express just how much I loved her or how much she taught me, especially about faith & hope through adversity. Only after going through the past few months with Andrew's challenges did I really understand. I guess she helped learn to be a fool. I will be the fool who will stubbornly stand in faith when it isn't reasonable & will hope when there is clearly little hope. The Lord's ways are certainly a mystery to me, but I can see how much she & so many of us have grown through these past couple years of suffering & I will praise God for that. I know that if Grandma had know the spiritual significance her journey would have for even just one of us, she would have readily gone ahead to suffer. She was such a selfless soul.
I invite all of you that knew her to post a comment about a memory you have of her, or just what she meant to you. Just to celebrate Dottie.
Here's mine (Betsy). I have a ton, but I'll limit it to 2. (1) Grandma is Steve's maternal grandmother, but I quickly claimed her as my own as well. Any time the boys would tease me that she wasn't really my grandmother I would cry she is too my grandma, aren't you grandma? and she would give a resolute yes I am! (2) After she got sick her activity was limited (obviously). But one of her favorite things to do was to grocery shop & she was to the point where she would just wait in the car while someone else ran in quickly or stayed home & let me do the grocery shopping (Grandma lived with us about a year before & a year after she got sick & always did the grocery shopping when she was able) & I'm not nearly the caliber grocery shopper she was (she read most of the labels, discovered new things, etc). So to get to the point, it took a lot of convincing on Stacie & my parts to convince her to use one of the scooters at the grocery store to get out a bit. Of course, on one of her first outings she was with me & she wanted to check out the organic food section (which has narrower isles than the rest of the store) & she took out a pyramid display of bottle water. It was great! She was worried about the mess she made, but I just said that's okay grandma, we're making memories. And so we did.
11 comments:
I'm with you guys both on this one! She was an awesoem lady and treated anyone who called her grandma as her own. I remember going to TaiHo in Merrit Island as a young boy. She wnated me to experience cultures in food and she did just that. She truly was grandma to people "outside" the family. Her Yankee stories were always great to hear and she was that cool grandma I never had. My grandmother died at age 5 so she became a grandmother figure in my life. I think one of the greatest things she has taught her family, a legacy that lives today, is the acceptance of people and opening up your home and heart to others. Although she will be greatly missed, there is a day in paradise coming when we shall soon see her again!!! Thank you grandma Dottie for the time, stories, and memories... see you soon!
I use to go to Betsy and Steve's house to cut Dotties hair while she was living there. I have to say that no matter what kind of day I had she always reminded me that it was a good day! She always had a story and a smile. She was an amazing woman with such strength. I was blessed to have met her!
Becki
I am truly sorry! I give you all my blessings!
I only knew Dottie through Betsy and Steve, but everytime I'd stop in to see her, once she was in bed most of the time, she would tell me how much she loved Betsy and that she thought Betsy was such a blessing. She won my heart, because obviously I think the same thing.(Betsy is my daughter). You can't help but love a person who just loves your own kid so much. she had great taste!
Mom T (Terri)
If you never tried them, then you really missed out: Best chicken fingers ever. (Steve will back me up on that one).
Anyway; my condolences to all those who will surely miss her. Dottie was a hip lady, and she was always very good to me. I am thankful that I got to know her.
Betsy
After loosing both my grandmothers in the last two years or so, what a beautiful testament to your beloved grandmother. I am sure she loved every last word.
Michele
First of all, thank you for your wonderful post in her honor and the invite for more.
To continue the shopping thread... Melissa and I took her to BJ's where she drove her new scooter around. I found out quickly the best way to avert disaster, as she RACED around the store on the edge of control, was to be ready to slide my foot in front of the back wheel, which stopped her well. Her and Melissa were investigating the Cheesy Panini bread, which, (no surprize to those who know Mom)quickly turned into "Cheesy Panty Bread", which became fodder for many a giggle until we finished it all.
Betsy, thank you for being by her side. You were "the one" and I'm very glad.
Stacie
I only met her twice, she was so sweet. :-)
Betsy and Steve:
So sorry to hear about your loss of Grama Dottie. She sounds like a 'one of a kind person'. We are happy that she has been part of your life and was a great example of unconditional love.
Peace be with you,
Theresa and Emily
Thanks, Betsy, for a great tribute to my mom. As one of her daughters, (Teresa), I of course have a ga-zillion memories, but one that was brought back to me thru some pictures we kids were getting together is when she caught the bouquet at Crystals wedding! She was at first shocked- then tickled down to her toes!! She of course later denied that it was that big of a deal...and that she DID NOT have a big grin on her face over it.....I said, "but Mom, I have a picture"........she just grinned that big grin, again. I loved it when the "little girl" in her came out....Like seltzer water fizz...and she loved her seltzer water.... Thanks, Mom :)
Your grandma Dottie was a beautiful lady inside and out . Although I wasn't blessed to know her as well as I would have liked I always felt a sort of kinship with her. She made everyone feel like family . I will always be greatful to her for taking in Billy when he had no place else to go and treating him like one of her own. She truely was one of the most generous caring people I have ever met. She was surely blessed by Gods graces and shared her love gracously . She will be missed by so many more than you could even imagine. Her life was never really easy but she always kept a sense of humor . We shared many stories and I will always have fond memories of the times we had together . I loved the way she gave advice to everyone around her . I guess she was in a hurry to get to heaven so she hitched a ride on that rocket :) God Bless Grandma Dottie !
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