TRIBUTE………………….

It seems quite a while since I have written on my blog. That was something that I was not going to be remiss at but life and circumstances are ever changing. 

My sweet Mother-in-law passed away on the 17th of December at the age of 97!  She has been living with Chris for the last year and was having mini-strokes. The last one happened a few weeks ago and she never recovered from it.  Hospice came in and helped Chris and I don’t think anyone can ever sing their praises enough.  But the praises I want to sing go to Chris and Lee.  No one will ever know what a difficult, although loving, thing to do, to care for someone in your home.  It is an emotional journey and we will be forever grateful to them for their selfless service. Lee had been asked by Grandma to talk at her funeral.  He being the only non-member in the family, we all chuckled, but he did a fabulous job.  He brought some humor to the service but centered it around the fact that Grandma was always a lady.  Richard gave the other talk and her grandchildren sang a song together, then her grandsons sang a song in parts that was beautiful.  The four oldest granddaughters gave the life sketch and it was wonderful.  All of the girls there wore a piece of Grandma’s jewelry.  I think there were over 200 people there, considering she outlived almost all of her friends and her family.

So we flew out on a Tuesday. We drove to St. Louis, flew to Denver, changed planes, flew to Salt Lake, rented a car and drove to Idaho Falls.  LOOOOONNGGGG day.  We did our best to help Chris prepare for the onslaught of people coming.  All of Jenny’s kids came, even Clark from Virginia.  Jerianne was there with her family, and Jonathan got stuck in Kansas City.  There was a huge storm in Denver that kept my other children away.  But over all, most everyone was there.  Mom has 78 great-grandchildren, and around 30 grandchildren.  Quite a posterity. 

I have been so very blessed to have Lois Lovenia Peterson Jardine as my “other” mother.  She has been so good to me, taught me many things, loved us all and been an example that no one else can rival.  I will be forever grateful to have her in my life and look forward to being part of her family forever.