Remembering Those We Love

By Student Servant Leader, Emily Mentz

This past Sunday the Christian church celebrated All Saints Day. It is the time of year when many cultures celebrate those that have passed away before them; perhaps it is something about the fall that inspires this in so many.

All Saints Day is a day of remembrance, as we share stories of those who have impacted us and think about the connection we share with the generations that came before, and those that will follow us.

When I was seven, my grandmother passed away from esophageal cancer, and the memories I have of Grandma Joyce are few, but they are rich. She was a short woman with a smile like home-baked cookies and an embrace that made you feel like you were home and warm and safe. She could often be found sitting on the floor, covered in her grandbabies, bringing an element of calm to the chaos. She had the most grateful heart, as you could give her a plane ticket to Acapulco or a rock you found in the front yard and her reaction to it would be the same. As her cancer progressed and she got her wig, she allowed my cousins and I to touch it, to touch her, to ask questions.

My memories of my Grandma are not clouded by her illness, for her beauty shone through it all. I now see pieces of the memories of my grandma in my mom; in her laugh and the way she answers the phone. As the holidays approach, I don’t think that the loss of my Grandma is one my family will ever cease to feel. However, we have not lost our connection to her, and I know she is among the saints that we will meet again in Heaven.