The Drakes: Gettin' Back To It

Well, we’ve jumped right back into the swing of things around here. Saturday was an all day volleyball tournament at SHS, where we enjoyed watching the team take on Ft. Wayne Leo and Muncie Central. And last night was our last regular season home game (Praise the Lord!). It feels good to do normal stuff. We’re all looking forward to the week of gymnastics, back to work and master’s work, story time, exercise, and shopping for groceries, to name a few. To get back into blogging, I’d like to journal/share about our time over that last two weeks, so bear with me….

When Tim arrived home from school at lunch last Wednesday, after we received the call to come quickly, we decided to take the kids and leave. In less than 15 minutes we were on the road! I packed what I could think of and didn’t do too bad! I forgot nothing that a quick trip to a Target and Walmart couldn’t replace! The kids and I spent the remainder of the week coming and going from the hotel and the Colony (where Margaret was) while Tim sat with her and talked with the nurses. We found a nice playground, did some shopping, and met up with a good friend, who graciously let us come and play for an hour in a kid friendly environment! We also made good use of the activities room – crayons and Legos! The staff at the Colony was very kind to let us “move in” for the week, and the residents were also wonderful to our family. One man told me every time I walked by with the kids how lucky and blessed I was by my beautiful children. Another lady always signed “cute” to us when we saw her. On the last day, a lady whom I had really only noticed either walking quietly or sleeping, yelled at me, “Go home! You don’t belong here!” It really did make me smile.

The kids knew their way around very well and waved hi to EVERYONE we passed. Cooper stopped one man in his tracks because he was headed straight at him waving, what looked like “stop!” When he got close enough, they smiled at each other, waved, and Cooper just continued on around him! One of the hardest things to do was to have my children leave the Colony for the last time on Saturday evening. They went through the great room, and waved to everyone one last time as I told them they were leaving with my parents. There was lots of smiles and love from them. Grace first cried about Grandma Margaret when she learned we would not be going back to the Colony. Her response to Tim was that we needed to find someone else to visit there. She is so wise. I’m wishing now, I had some pictures of them with the kids.

It was a huge blessing that my parents came and got the kids on Saturday night. I could finally be there for my husband. Uncle Bill came Thursday and helped Tim and the kids. That was nice. The staff was amazing. Tim experienced that more than I did, but I know it meant a lot to have such great care for Margaret and for us. The Colony truly became our “home away from home” and our “other” family. The deaf church we had been attending on our visits was amazing as well. It was so nice to have one last Sunday with them. We will truly miss our visits to Ohio.

As for the funeral, it was such an amazing event to meet all the people who were touched by Margaret and her amazing faith. I loved hearing the stories about her. I’ve come to realize that I missed out. She was never really healthy in my time that I’d known her. Having to talk with Grace about all of this has been a huge release. It is nice to say repeatedly, and out loud, that Grandma is in Heaven or to answer her questions. She is convinced that there is only soft grass in Heaven and no “owies.” And I know she is right. J At the viewing, Grace noticed that Grandma’s eyes were closed and repeatedly called her a book. (The casket was open like a book, I guess.) I’m sad for her and Cooper that they won’t remember her. We have pictures and hopefully some video buried somewhere on our computer. And we’ll keep signing, but it won’t be the same.

Here are some of our favorite pictures we found of our times with Margaret.

Coloring with Grandma.