Fall. The leaves call out her name!

Every October, I am reminded about a significant event that happened in my young married life. Indulge me for a moment.

I grew up in a house with a patient mother and an aging grandmother who ran a country store. On a Wednesday night, she attended midweek bible study, left with a headache, went home and sat on the bed with a beet red look upon her face. She lost her speech before she was taken to the hospital. 

A North Carolina Fall Season

Laying on the hospital bed, her eyes became paralyzed staring at the ceiling. Still speechless we all spoke to her as thought she could her us. I guess I won't know until heaven if she heard our departing words. Slowly the monitors began to loose the beat; and then Dr. Edwards said "She's gone".

Grandmaw was the first close person in my life to leave this earth. 

The reason I am posting this is because I remember the day of her memorial. A classic Carolina fall day. Perfect temperature. The leaves were rich with color. The cumulus nimbus clouds were bellowing almost as though God was separating the sky for her entrance into heaven. 

God's gift was not just years of having a grandmother who lived with me, co-reared me, and raised me in many ways, but his gift was a beautiful departure on her memorial day. The leaves are a reflection of the life she lived; beautiful, colorful,  and later wrinkled. Even her vascular hands were like the vains in the leafs. 

Continue to RIP Ms. Ella. The leaves are calling out your name this season.