Baba’s Blog

Last week my Granny, Elsie Freeman, passed away. She had been sick for quite a while, and in recent weeks her sickness had escalated to the point that this was expected, but it still left a lot of sadness in the remaining 12 children (Tommy, the youngest child, died several years ago in a trucking accident). In talking with my Dad, though, it came up that this sadness was heavy and real, but that it was a sadness with hope. It is a great and wonderful thing to know that someone died a Christian. Yes, we miss them. Yes, we grieve for them. But we have the hope and the certainty that this is not the end. It doesn’t simply stop here. We know that we will get to see our Granny if we can just hold on to the hope that she lived for.

When I found out on Tuesday afternoon that she had died, I called my brother and we finalized the plan that he would fly in to Nashville from Phoenix and we would drive to East TN where my family lives. He got in at 8am on Wednesday and we (including Dessa and Reagan) left for my old home. In all honesty, my Granny’s passing is not the main thing that brought me sadness. This is because I am confident in that hope I talked about. How can I be too sad for a lady who has went from being in a sickly, painful body to a glorified, Christ-like body. A lady who will now get to see what those mansions in heaven are like and what it feels like to walk on gold. I miss her, but I also envy her. She knows now. For her, it’s no longer about Faith, or having to fight through any doubts or trials, or absolutely anything negative at all. She’s there. She’s fought the fight and gained the reward.

No, this is not what brought me the most sadness. What did is seeing my Dad struggle through the days that I was there. While he was joking around at times, being nice, and generally doing all the things that make him my wonderful Dad, he was also very subdued and very, very sad. He was hurting and it was hurting me, my brother, and my sister. We love our Dad very much. He has always been there for us and this was a time that we could be there for him. Of course, I don’t know if really helped very much.

One fun time that we had was when I woke up at about 4am (I’m sleeping on a small bed with a increasingly more pregnant wife and a very mobile 3 year old). I then proceeded to wake up my Dad when I walked through the house, who then woke up my brother with us talking. So, being all awake and grumpy, we decided to go down to a local diner and eat some breakfast and get coffee. It was a good time of talking and discussing between three men who hadn’t been alone together in quite some time.

The funeral was absolutely beautiful. Not only were all of the flowers beautiful (and thanks to my job for sending some) and everything well placed and in order, but at that funeral we had Church. Granny would not have had it any other way. My mom sung a song about God giving all the trees and flowers to us (I don’t know the title, but she sang it beautifully) and then sang Beulah Land. We had a few more songs and a speaker. Then Granny’s pastor got up and spoke a message about this being the “Dressing Room” for eternity. After the message, we had 4 people come to the altar in repentance.

One thing that came out of this form me was the importance of family. It’s very easy when you live in a different area and have a family of your own to get caught up in your own life. I love my family and I want to be there for them.