My Grandma, Helen Edith Palmer Cooper

left the Earthly world on October 6 at 93 years old, 35 of those years spent with me. I came to Dallas thinking I would be there 3 days, until she got the medication going for the respiratory infection. Instead, I spent 12 days with her, lifting her oxygen mask just enough for her cappuchino or milkshake, caramel apple slices, or hot fudge sundae. I sat with her for hours, talking about everything and nothing, watching TV with her, painting her toes and holding her hand, hoping with all I am that she would get better despite the specialists showing me x-rays and displaying no hope. I cried, and repeated over and over and over that I loved her and it wasn't her time. But, in the end, I watched her get mass amounts of morphine and anxiety medication, watched her not get enough air to breathe. I watched the person I loved most in this world suffocate, unable to get a breath, longing for my Gpa and her best friends Brownie and Sue, long passed. It is them in the picture.

And now, I am changed. Heavy and laden.

I feel broken and lost, as if there is a giant hole in my heart that is eternal. She loved me and I felt loved. That sentence says it all. There are so many people in one's life who you are said to love and who say they love you, but very few actually live the part, love unconditionally, with the intent of the entire being. My grandma gave me that. She was always happy to see me, hear me, and to be a part of my life. She was the most understanding and wisest person I know. She was my heart and I am broken.

In the last year I have lost 2 of my most vigilant fans, my most ardent followers. I have lost the ones who held my heart safe, protected it and loved it, loved me for nothing more than I am, but more than I am. Mitzie Mouse and Grandma made me a better person. They loved me and I them.

The following song was sung by a dear family friend at Gma's funeral (which I didnt attend). BJ told my mom that Gma requested it after it was sung at my Gpa's funeral. So, I am attaching it. I do know that all was well in my Gma's soul as she was a charasmatic light in the world and will be missed eternally.