Bubby

Bubby is translated as Grandmother in Yiddish. I hardly think that my oldest cousin was thinking in terms of Yiddish when she lovingly named our grandmother "Bubby." Along with Bubby, my grandfather wasn't forgotten when my cousin handed the names out. He became known as "Poppy". I don't know if that translates to anything outside the world of botany or not but this was his "given" name nonetheless. Bubby and Poppy are my father's parents.

It is amazing to think that those two meeting is what brought about our family. God had a plan the day He crossed their paths. We've been blessed with a wonderful and close family. We don't all live close to one another but nothing more than a 4 hour drive at most separates us. My brother and I are the only grandkids that have been blessed to live fairly close to Bubby and Poppy all along.

We grew up with them playing an integral part in our childhood and as we became adults and we looked around to see so many of our friends without living grandparents we began to understand just how blessed we really were. It was easy to just expect them to be around but the older we got the more of a reality it became that eventually we would have to say goodbye.

Our goodbye to Bubby happened very quickly. In the past she battled breast cancer and beat it like a champ. We knew more recently that there was some other type of cancer but we weren't sure where or how much. She was 89 and really didn't care to know more because she knew it couldn't be treated. We just hoped for the slow growing kind and counted our blessings for each day we had her here with us. She started to feel a lot of pain around the beginning of August. Most of her pain was in her back but it was really bad. Hospice ended up coming in on August 13th to help her maintain the pain. They also gave her a hospital bed, which she loved! She said, "I may just not tell them when I start getting better so that I can keep this bed." She wasn't ready to give up. The next day the medication really took a toll on her but by evening she managed to play a round of bid euchre from bed. The family was called in because we didn't know how much time she had left but we knew it wasn't much.

I was blessed to spend quite a bit of time with her over that week and weekend. I will never forget the first time I really saw her break down when talking to the hospice nurse. She said, "I can't die yet. I have a brand new great grandson and another one on the way." This was hard to hear because at this point I knew the reality was that Case probably wasn't going to get to meet her. She was beginning to shut down. I went in to see her on Saturday morning and she told me she was looking forward to seeing her three great grandbabies in heaven. She said, "I'll take care of Joshua and Caleb!" I loved that she actually included the baby we lost before the boys to a miscarriage. Even I find myself sometimes forgetting that I will not only get to see my boys but there is a third baby that I will one day get to meet.

Bubby passed away peacefully after spending the weekend saying goodbye to each member of our family, on Monday August 17th. She was an amazing woman and I was blessed to have her in my life for 30 years. She gave us so many laughs, many times at her expense but she was always a good sport about it. She'd laugh right along with us. Sometimes we thought perhaps the filter between her brain and her mouth had deteriorated with age but again that just added to who she was and it was something even she laughed at. I think she was surprised at what came out of her own mouth on many occasions.

I will never forget Bubby or the influence she's had on my life. She was a strong woman that truly loved her family. She loved being surrounded by the family and was always at her happiest during the those times.

Poppy is doing really well. I'm very proud of him. He lost a big part of who he was when Bubby died. She was the woman that has slept by his side for 67 years. I can't imagine what it must feel like to lose the person you have spent the majority of your life with. He was a very caring husband and made a life out of taking care of Bubby, especially in the latter years of their marriage. He is enduring each day with a broken heart but he hasn't given up on life. I am amazed and encouraged by his strength!

Thank you, God, for all the time I had with Bubby and I pray that she is surrounded by your love and comfort now and that each day Poppy will find more comfort in knowing that he will one day see Bubby again.