Lura Emily “Pat” Smith
June 17, 1920—May 14, 2015
Today, my mother’s mother passed.I found out this morning, but in the night I woke up suddenly and felt that something had changed. I knew that she was gone. So when the news came this morning, it was hard to read but not a surprise. When we lost my grandfather (her husband) in my senior year of high school, I had a dream about him just before he died.
When both of my grandfathers died, I was a pallbearer and helped carry their caskets. When both of my grandmothers died, I was in another corner of the world, too far away to help. These are the only times I’ve ever truly felt far from home. I would like to have been able to carry them, too, if only to say goodbye and thank you.
When a woman is born, she is born with all of the egg cells she will carry. So when Lura Emily Smith gave birth to my mother, in some sense my sister and I were there as well, at least in part. I loved all of my grandparents very much. They were all wonderful people who helped me become who I am. I miss them all. Still, there’s something different this time. My mother’s mother was the last to go, and maybe the hardest to take.
She will be missed every bit as much as she was loved.
