The Person I Miss the Most

Day 12: What do you miss most (a person, place, thing, a time in your life…)

The person that I miss most in the entire world in my Grandma Jerry. My Grandma Jerry passed away the summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school. She lived in Greensburg, PA (where I am from), and we lived in Georgia at the time. We got to see her a few times a year, usually around the holidays and once in the summer each year after we moved.

My Grandma Jerry was an amazing woman. She always had the right words to say and great advice for any situation. I just loved to spend time with her, stay up late and have girl talk. I spent so much time with her when I was a child. She would have me sleep over a lot, and we would watch movies and she would play with me and tell me stories. We even had this game we would play where she would build a fort for me with all the couch cushions and I would be a little big and she would pretend she was the big bad wolf and try to get into my fort.

She would make me roast beef sandwiches, and she always had Cherry Pepsi and my favorite grape and cherry taffy at her house when I came! Anytime I was having a hard time, she was always there for me to talk to.

We all know I am scared of storms, well even thunder and lightening used to scare me when I was young. My Grandma used to say that it was just the people in Heaven having fun and bowling. That the thunder was the bowling ball going down the lane…and when you heard the lightening crack you knew someone got a strike. I always think of that every time there is a thunder storm.

I remember one time I was expressing how much I missed her when we came back to visit. She sat on the couch next to me and told me to look out the window. She said, “You see those starts out there? I can see the same starts you can see. Next time you feel lonely, look out there at them and know I am looking with you.” (Cue the tears flowing down my cheeks)

Those words really stuck with me. The day that we traveled back to PA for her funeral, my mom, dad, sister and I were walking around her neighborhood. I remember what she said and I looked up at the sky. I asked my dad if he thought Grandma could see us. He said, of course she can. I looked back up, and there was one star that was shining VERY brightly compared to all the rest (and no it wasn’t the North star.) I just knew it was her! Sometimes to this day, I look up at the sky and every once in awhile her start is shining brightly and I know she is with me.

This may sound crazy, but sometimes….Gracie will come cuddle up with me for no reason at all and when she starts to get close…she smells like my Grandma’s perfume.

A few years ago my mom and I went back to PA to visit my other Grandma and some family. We decided to go to the church that I was baptized in and attended every Sunday with my Grandma Jerry. The church is not very big, maybe 100 members? Well we decided to sit in the back, because I knew everyone used to sit in the same seats when I went.

During the middle of the service, an elderly women who I thought I recognized looked over at me and smiled and said to her daughter, “Hey look, Jerry is attending today!” She thought I was my Grandmother. My mom said that I really do look just like she used to. I went home that night and looked in the mirror and realized that our eyes are the same color…and that my eyes change just the way hers used to. That is the biggest compliment I have ever received in my entire life. My Grandmother was beautiful and for someone to mistaken me for her…well all I can do is smile.