Here, in Spring

It's Springtime here in Michigan.  Daffodils and tulips are pushing their way up through the dirt, earthworms are stretching across pavement in the fresh rain, and the trees are filled with tiny, new buds.
She looked forward to walking around her yard, searching for the spring blooms and inspecting her rosebushes.  She was always cheering on the Detroit Tigers for every pitch of every game, even if it was while sitting at the kitchen table to listen to Ernie Harwell over the  radio.  With wedding season fast approaching, she'd be hard at work in her basement making sure that the bridal bouquets and corsages were absolutely perfect.
She was my grandma-my Grammy-Ellie Wogen.  When she was young, she pitched on her softball team, and was so proud of her reporting job for the Estherville Daily News.  Later, she became an avid bowler and volunteered with the McLaren Hospital Auxiliary.  But there was one thing that was always there: my grandpa, Grampy, her husband, Stan. She was many things, but she was the most complete when my grandpa was with her. They married in New Orleans in 1943, when she was just 17 years old, and she watched him go off to war.  And then, when he returned to her, they made a family.
They were a magical team.  Sunday at The Wogen's was an EVENT.  Everyone was welcome for snacks or dinner or dessert or drinks or for the entire day.  While Grampy grilled chicken, Grammy would be in the kitchen making scalloped potatoes and preparing pattipan squash from the garden.  And, of course, there was always bread fresh from the Balkan Bakery. While they were making dinner, we'd be out back picking raspberries and playing frisbee and trying to catch Grampy taking secret puffs from his pipe.  Their house was always the place to come home to.  Even now, not much has changed.  Emerson sitting at Grammy's piano looked quite similar to when I sat there thirty years ago.

Oh, and while we're talking about that piano, let me tell you how much she loved it.  Uncle Dennis and I would take turns playing our favorite songs, but at some point, we'd end up playing Heart and Soul. With just a few notes, Grammy would drop whatever she was doing in the kitchen to dance her way into the living room and sing along.

Together, Grammy and Grampy raised six successful children and watched their family continue to grow with the addition of 14 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren.  I wonder if they had any idea that when they said their I-do's all those years ago that it would take them from that...

to all of this.

When my grandpa passed away, a little piece of my grandma died, too, but she carried him with her.  When she'd hear a strange noise in the basement, or if the doorbell rang and no one was at the door, she'd say that was just Stan having a little fun with her.  I suppose after spending 52 years with someone, it would be quite difficult not to see him everywhere.

The last few years were a little tough, but her children did everything in their power to make sure Grammy was able to stay in her home.  There were long, sleepless nights spent, and days filled with medications and nurses, but I think it was a gift that they got to spend so much time with her in her later years.  "Older and wiser" is a very real thing and we all benefited from her wisdom.  I think my youngest son, Nash, was quite privileged to have spent so much time with her, and Grammy sure enjoyed our visits.

She'd say on occasion that she had lived too long and she didn't want to be a burden to anyone.  But when you've lived your entire life giving all that you had for your family, you are seen as nothing but a blessing.

On Friday, we will say our final goodbyes to our mother and grandmother and great-grandmother and sister and aunt and friend.  But it's not really goodbye, is it?  She may have physically left this earth, but she is here-all around us.  In those raspberry bushes, in those silly little songs she'd sing, in those first rose blooms this year, she is here.