Grandma

At our Family Reunion almost a month ago, these pictures were taken. Unless you belong to the family, let's be honest...they are nothing special. A group of people you probably don't know. Of course, to me they are very special. The guy in the blue shirt and suspenders on the right is my Dad with whom I am very close and have a great relationship I am extremely thankful for. Next to him with the baby on his lap is my brother so yeah...that would be my niece and in front of them are my Sis-in law and nephew. Between Dad and Kenneth are my other sis-in law Tracy and my brother Phillip. I have my head turned but in front of me is my wife. The others are Aunts, Uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, etc.
And in the center, the elderly lady in the Blue and white dress is Grandma Barton. I won't give away her age but will suggest it may exceed thirty-nine. Maybe. Maybe not.

Anyway, it had been a few years since she made it to a reunion and so this one was pretty special. We had a great time. It led to some pictures that...well...
as you can see, I am sweating profusely despite having done nothing more strenuous than take a few pictures. I blame the heat. Pretty cool pic with my Dad behind me talking to my Aunt with an Uncle looking out the window and me next to Grandma.

Oddly, when I was younger I might not have appreciated this picture nearly as much. Growing up, she was my 3rd favorite Grandparent. I admit it...I had favorites. And yes, today it makes me sad that I did and particularly why.

I make no bones about it...Grandpa Barton, her husband, was my favorite. I tell you now, that man still has a huge impact on my life. The way he and Dad interacted, the way he interacted with other people...Kenneth Isaac Barton (RIP) was a great man. He taught me a lot about love for people and how to treat them right. He also was phenomenally talented. He could build anything and taught me a lot about that too.

Grandma, when I was growing up, did not seem as nice. She seemed to have a sharper edge. As I grew older I matured and understood her better and realized she was not, in fact, a little bit mean but was in actuality a great lady in her own way. After all, she put up with 9 (NINE) kids and a husband who all thought a sentence without a joke was pretty much wasted breath. That has not changed much, by the way. She also dealt in her early years with situations that threatened to tear the family apart. She had seen a lot of tragedy and come through it just fine.

And as I saw how Dad felt about her and dealt with her...and compared that with how Grandma Alda dealt with Mom and how the Nash family interacted...I came to realize how blessed I was to have Grandma as a relative.

Well, as long ago as I remember everyone talked about how Grandma was going to die any day and after she did, Grandpa would die within months of grief. After he died in 1995 we started saying the same thing about her. Yet she made it out to the reunion this year! That was pretty cool and led to probably my favorite picture since those of the marriage of the Goose and myself last year:


Well, last Saturday Phillip, Tracy, the Goose and I stopped in to visit her. It was a pretty tough conversation. How tough? She did not even see Phillip...and he was sitting right next to her. About a dozen times she said, "I don't even know why I am here." Her conversation was stilted and did not make sense, something I had never experienced before. She could not remember either Tracy or the Goose's name. It was really tough. She also complained about tooth pain.

Turns out the pain may have been a bit lower. She may have experienced a heart attack and is in the hospital. Has been for a couple days.

On the one hand, I know it will be sad when she goes. It is always hard to lose a relative, particularly one you love as much as we all love Grandma, and obviously that includes me. And while there is no certainty we are about to lose her, obviously the potential is there.

And on the other hand...she has had a long, full life. With the exception of one son who did not make it into his 30s, she has seen her children have pretty good lives as evidenced by the photos above and the closeness there still is with 4 generations at least in the photo. If it is time for her to move on I just pray that it is gentle and painless. Either way...I am extremely thankful for the opportunity for the photos herein. There is no real good way to end a post like this but there will always be that great memory and maybe that is the ending I am looking for.

Thanks, Grandma, for being you. Wishing you peace and rest in whatever form that takes, whether several more years with your family and loved ones or not.