Today our family will gather to remember and celebrate the life of my Gram, Charl Knapp Blackwood. She was my step-dad’s step-mom, but she was always my Gram. I find it difficult to believe she’s truly gone, it isn’t real to me yet. I saw her exactly one week before her sudden collapse, a spry 95 year old, still mobile if somewhat slower, still full of humor, compassion and life. She and my cousin Ann came to visit me at the Zoo and we sat in the Carousel pavilion to chat over lunch.
It was a lovely, sunny day – a moment frozen in time. I was so pleased to see them, to share that moment, and now so grateful to have that last opportunity to see her, to give each other our love and hug each other … and what most people never get, the chance to say goodbye
Thanksgiving morning she was found collapsed unconscious in her room, she’d had a stroke, though we didn’t know that for several days, and she never regained consciousness – she passed away peacefully last Saturday after the decision was made to remove her from ventilation and allow her to go.
So again, today we gather to remember, to celebrate, to share, to love…and to say goodbye.
JulieAloha 
Holidays make dealing with grief ever more difficult. Every node expects you to be happy. Please know I love you very much.
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By: Linda on December 10, 2016
at 4:56 pm
The service was lovely, but had barely started when I lost it and the tears began to fall. The choir sang and I just bowed my head, covered my eyes and surrendered to silent sobs and tried vainly to breathe through it all. My niece and I leaned on each other for mutual support at times and by the end of the service I managed to regain some control, but I find myself very fragile these days.
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By: JulieAloha on December 10, 2016
at 5:33 pm