Oma Elisabeth

I didn't post yesterday because I got some bad news Wednesday night. My maternal grandmother (and last surviving grandparent) passed away at the age of 95. She would have been 96 on November 3rd.

My Oma (grandmother) was born in Europe in 1914 and came to the U.S. in the 1950s. She wasn't fluent in English, and I'm not fluent in German. That made it hard to communicate at times. But she loved cats and flowers, and we used to play a German game whenever I visited her. She lived independently until just a few years ago, when her failing health forced her to move in with my parents. Even then, she still sat outside as much as possible and helped take care of the garden. She developed cancer about twelve years ago, and she also had diabetes and circulation problems. We found out earlier this month that the cancer had spread, undetected, into her spine. The doctors originally thought she might still have a few more months, and my parents made plans to care for her at home. Unfortunately, her condition worsened more quickly than we would have liked. We drove up to see her on Sunday; she smiled when Alex waved at her and seemed to follow what was going on, but she wasn't able to say much, if anything.

I was planning on posting a picture of her, but I'm having some server issues with Blogger.

Oma was lucky enough to see not just her grandchildren, but great-grandchildren and even great-great-grandchildren. If you're lucky enough to still have your grandparents, be sure to talk to them and treasure the experiences they can share with you.

I'll return to my normal blogging topics on Monday. Enjoy your weekend, everyone!