DR Elmore, I'm glad that things went so well yesterday. I remember being so grief-stricken when my GaGa died...I had never felt anything like that. I heard that she had passed on while I was working in LA. I had a cold and food poisoning on top of that! But I flew to Ga, picked up Greg and we then flew to Ohio to be at the funeral the next day. I don't think I stopped crying the entire time after I heard the news, couldn't sleep or eat, but once we got to the gravesite, suddenly, everything seemed OK. It was a beautiful, sunny day, GaGa had a great spot on the top of the hill, and the minister said that he had heard a lot of great stories about GaGa and offered the opportunity for anyone who wanted to, to share them.
My uncle, GaGa's son, said that she had taught us all how to whistle REALLY LOUD. He said, "How loud would that be?" and my uncle produced an ear-splitting whistle. Then the rest of us started whistling, too. (She had taught us all, and we used to whistle for each other to call in for supper or just to find each other.) I can't imagine what other people in the cemetary thought, but to us is was cathartic and a tribute to the funny woman that we had loved so much.
Afterwards, we came back to my aunt's house and had a wonderful time catching up with relatives and meeting all my cousin's children. Since we moved so much when I was young, I didn't get to spend as much time with GaGa as my cousins, who never left Ohio, but she and I wrote each other all the time so I had boxes of letter from her. I read some excepts from the letters that mentioned other family members (all good stuff--she would never say anything bad about anyone) and my family really enjoyed that.
By the time I left the next day, I felt much better. I still miss her, so much that it can still make me cry, but I dream about her from time to time and always wake up feeling good, as though I had really visited her. DR Elmore's posts have brought back a lot of memories.
