The Morning for Pahpah

Pahpah went to heaven yesterday, and he can see again. You may be thinking, "What a sad way to start a blog," and you have a point. But from a certain perspective (the best one) it's really wonderful. As C. S. Lewis wrote in The Last Battle, "The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning."

He was the last of our grandparents. He loved my grandmother Mema, loved their three children - Mary, Johnny, and Gordon - and loved Jesus. He acted justly as a good lawyer and judge, loved mercy as he took care of his dear wife in her last years, and walked humbly with his God even when he couldn't see or stand. Whenever asked how he was doing these past few years, he'd praise the Lord that he didn't have any pain.

Cats frequented his lap, and he passed down a love of cats to all his family. I got his blue eyes too. And maybe his enjoyment of old movies ... though they were new when he saw them.

Mother Teresa died five days after Princess Diana in 1997; C. S. Lewis died on the same day as JFK in 1963. And in 2010, the very same day my grandfather died, my old neighbor Mrs. Madison did too. It's hard to sort out all the grief and memories, but Mrs. M took our Christmas card pictures back when it required a whole roll of film. She shared catfood with us one warm Christmas day when we ran out, the stores were closed, and I walked barefoot across the street to ask her. She taught me how to cross-stitch, which she couldn't do anymore after her stroke. The last thing I heard her say clearly, when visiting a week ago, was "You come back any time." Now she can communicate with perfect clarity.

Pahpah and Mrs. Madison both died at home, which I wish everyone could do. They both lived good long lives and influenced so many people. They both died, but I can't think of them as dead, because they're more alive now than ever. Quoting The Last Battle again:

For them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures ... had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.