What has it felt like losing two grandparents this year?
When we moved to Connecticut we had no idea two of our grandparents would pass away within our first year. Nobody ever knows when these things will happen. We had relatively healthy grandparents, but they also had a variety of age appropriate health conditions.
Death is never convenient nor easy. It shows up at inopportune times and causes a suite of emotion. Grief, regret, loss, pain, anger, confusion, and fear show up in varying degrees. Experiencing and processing a death across a large geographical distance is particularly difficult.
Should you make a trip to say good-bye in person?
Should you wait until they pass and mourn the loss gathered with family?
Should you go later to visit the widow(er) who has lost their companion?
Should you do all of the above?
Both grandparents were amazing grandparents and people. We feel their deaths as a true loss. We miss them. We wish we could see them. It’s hard to admit they aren’t physically with us anymore, and that all we have now are fond memories.
Our desire to be physically with them again feels stronger since we lost them from a distance. We all have an eternal impulse, an infinite instinct. We don’t know how the mysteries of eternity unfold and how God goes about the restoration of all things. We do hope to embrace our grandparents again. It’s not a need – Jesus will be enough to satisfy us for all eternity. But it is a want, a desire, a hope. We’d like to see them again and spend unhurried, eternal time with them.
