One of my very own personal hero's is my Mammaw. She was whisked away to the other side on Monday, September the 17th. If you knew her you may have known her as "Mary Alice Gibson",one of the most interesting women of this world. She was 94 years old. It is always hard to lose someone dear to you no matter how well prepared you are. Mammaw has been preparing us for her death for as long as I can remember! I remember when I was young going to her house and her scurrying me off to the guest bedroom and clearing off this beautiful bed covered in yards and yards of any color, type, or size of yarn and saying "now Kara, when I die you will have this beautiful bed...your grandfather was born on this bed" EWWWW!! I thought, first , Ewww at the thought of someone being born in the bed, the second ewww of the thought that she was already planning her death!!! How strange!!! How morbid I thought, so out of character coming from a woman who is not at all negative .. Well, as I got older and she kept showing me all the the furniture I would receive when her day came, it was more clear to me that she was indeed going to die one day and that I will too. "Its the circle of life" she'd say. " Everyone dies, there is no need to waste your life away worrying about it. One day Kara, you'll accept it." Well, It is true,I have accepted it. That doesn't make it any easier though!!
Mom and Dad told me the news of her passing as soon as they heard. She had been in a nursing home for a few years but ....she would never be in a nursing home..she was a part of the nursing home! BIG DIFFERENCE!! Everyone knew who Mary Alice was! Her room was always full of people and when she felt good, she'd go down and play piano for everyone to enjoy...I always wished I had learned to play the piano! What a great gift to give people...music! Anyways, she was still as sharp as a blade! I mean she would tell me things about my dad when he was child up until the last time I spoke to her, which was a couple of weeks before now. She adored my dad, she really wanted me to know that! I can understand why..I adore him too!! All of the memories, all of the smells, smiles, her hands, her grey hair, her painted face..It all comes around. Avery Kathryn would have been her 13th great- grandchild. I know she wanted to stick around to see her. Avery will know about her though...She made her a blanket that I will wrap her up in as soon as I can. She she will be wrapped in her love, just as Mammaw would wrap me up in her arms when I was young. The circle of life is so interesting. We are born, we have one chance to live our lives to the fullest. That's what Mammaw did. She absolutely lived her life to the very fullest. In a conversation we had the last time we spoke, I vowed to her that I will not waste one day of my life...and I won't! I won't waste one hug, one smile,one kiss,or one person in my life! I love you Mammaw and I will miss you, but I will remember you and your spunk for life. And even more, I will pass it on to every one I can. -K
