The last time that I spoke to my Grandmother, she asked me, “what is your favorite time of day?”  I do not recall the answer I gave her, but I remember clearly the response she gave when the same question was posed to her.  “Morning,” she said.  “I love to get up before the sun rises, when everybody else is still asleep, and watch as the sky changes color.  In the morning, everything feels fresh and new.”

I was not surprised by the answer she gave, rather, I might have guessed it myself had she encouraged me to.  My Grandmother had a love affair with the dawn as far back as I can remember, which isn’t all that far when comparing the span of my life thus far to hers.  As a child, I can remember wandering sleepy-eyed into the dining room at her cottage on the lake, to find her sitting on the front porch with an empty mug in her hand, looking out across the lake. 

It is also difficult to forget the songs that she sang to the grand children in the morning.  “Good morning to you, good morning to you…” I would hear her sing as she opened the door to my bedroom, her voice like a song bird.  It was with that same sing-songy voice that she would enter a home or a room by calling out, “yoo-hoo.”

I think it’s quite appropriate that my mother, aunt and uncle decided to have this memorial service in early May, as spring now begins to show its face.  Grandma loved the freshness of life that can be felt early in the morning or during spring’s first warming weeks.  Although she lived long, into the twilight of her life, Grandma lived with the same youthful enthusiasm and spunk that often made you forget her age.

As we are gathered here together to mourn the passing of such a wonderful woman, I believe that Grandma would not have wanted us to be focused on the sunset, but instead on the ever-coming dawn, which was so precious to her, and which so beautifully represents her spirit.  The following poem was found in my Grandmother’s bible, and although its author is unknown, it sounds as though it may just have been written by Grandma:

After Glow

I'd like the memory of me

To be a happy one.

I'd like to leave an after glow

of smiles when life is done.

I'd like to leave an echo

Whispering softly down the ways,

Of happy times and laughing times

and bright and sunny days.

I'd like the tears of those who

Grieve, to dry before the sun

Of happy memories that I leave

When my life is done