Remembering Mema Shirley

While my blog mainly captures the happenings of my three little ones, it also serves as a timeline for our family events. It is with great sadness that I write about the passing of our Mema Shirley.

About a month ago, Mema went to the hospital with back pain and found out that her cancer was back. She spent a week at the hospital seeming to catch everything there was or at least having all her hidden ailments exposed. She decided she did not want to pursue Chemo or radiation and was taken to Hosparus for pain management. You can read more about the process at my cousin's blog at www.shirleyupdates.blogspot.com.

I cannot say enough about Hosparus. They were kind and caring. You have to have a true calling on your life to dedicate your days to helping and watching terminal patients die. What many people don't realize is that Hosparus isn't always a place to go to die. Some patients go in, manage their pain and then go back home. Unfortunately that was not the case for Mema Shirley.

I believe in my heart that she was lonely, and when they told her the cancer was back, she saw it as her ticket to getting back with Papa. He walked the path to Heaven himself 14 months ago. I like to picture her following that bright light towards Jesus and seeing Papa step out of the shadows to greet her in Heaven. He takes her to a little bench in his most masterful garden and says, "I've been waiting for you. What took you so long."  And while she is terribly missed down here, to know that Papa and my dad were able to meet her at the Gates brings me peace.

So as I reflect on my relationship with Mema Shirley and what she meant to me, I have to take a short stroll down memory lane. . . .getting off the bus and going to her house after school in elementary school. . . watching Wonder Woman and Dukes of Hazard every day at 4 pm before Papa came home for Supper. . .throwing up red Kool Aid all over my desk in first grade and her coming to get me. . painting sweatshirts for everybody I knew . . .sleeping in the back of her RV on road trip vacations . . . hours of card playing (first S**T) and then Hand and Foot. . .camping trips with 70+ people and Mema, Papa, and Aunt Edith as the cornerstones. . .sleep overs at Mema and Papa's which I thought were for me, but now I realize my parents probably just needed a break. . . her coming down with the aunts just days after Katelyn was born and me crying my eyes out when they left because I knew what my kids would be missing not being raised near family.

I have been very blessed to be a part of such a close family and can't imagine life without them. And you, Mema and Papa, are where it all began.

The song that ran through my head the week of the funeral is below--Blessed Be Your Name.

I've learned that my emotions are rawest and most precise in the presence of music--happy or sad.  This is one that we played at her funeral that gave me great joy and also sadness.

Rest in Peace Mema

Shirley George Bibelhauser

January 22, 1932 - April 8, 2013