Hilyology: Miss you Tingles....

Another long absence, my apologies! It's hard to believe time has gone so swiftly since my last hello. As usual I honestly do have a good reason for not writing (I've missed it)! Since late September it seems like the floodgates opened and life decided to throw me one challenge after another. But with rain comes growth, so I am remembering to love every moment of this life even when it's not a bed of roses.

The biggest trial?

My Grandma Tingles passing away.

Her name was Geneva, like the Swiss capital. But she was known as Tingles, her family nickname. When she was a child, she adored playing with Dolly Dingles dolls but couldn't say her "d's" when she was very small so she called them "Tingles". Her mother found it endearing and so did everyone else the rest of her life.

My grandma was really like a mother to me so losing her has made me feel for the first time like I am kind of all alone in this big world. Missing her is an understatement.

I named my firstborn daughter Ramey after my grandmother's maternal line (as a nod to her French/Scotch-Irish lineage).

We had many similarities and many differences...I always wished I was more like her. She was feisty, gutsy, opinionated and adventurous (all things I lack). But she also was full of warmth, extremely generous and always put others before herself. Every time I took a friend up to her farm to visit she would find a gift to present them with.

With her passing, she has passed a torch of love and generosity to me. I will do my best to carry on some of her ways throughout the rest of my life. It's the best way we can honor those that we love, by doing the things that they cannot do anymore. For me that will mean baking cookies with my kids in her kitchen, donating clothes rather than selling them on EBay, sending a Texas pecan pie to her last remaining sister (my great aunt) at Thanksgiving time, saving money and sending a Christmas honey baked ham to the man who bought her health food store (Ginny's Vitamin Village in Wickenburg) from her but whom lovingly kept the store's name the same in her honor. These are all the things that she'd expect me to carry on for her.

I just wanted to honor her here on my family blog since she was a huge part of person I am and an even bigger inspiration for the person I want to become.

I have already felt her spirit around me and know she has been reunited with her mother, father and all her siblings up above. I bet they'll be having a heavenly version of a big ol' Texas BBQ.

I am grateful for my belief of eternity and families being forever. Here's to a life very well lived. I miss and love you, Grandma.