Grandma Ruthie

There are times when it is very easy to write this blog and there are times that feel impossibly hard.  I wish all I did was report on the latest field trip or baseball game, but there is more to life than the fun times.  There are really, really difficult times too.  But I can't pretend they don't happen and that this family isn't experiencing them.  This blog is supposed to document what happens in our lives and right now our life is full of sadness.  

On Tuesday, May 27th, Tom came home early from work to tell me the crushing news that his mother had died.  My heart felt ripped from my chest and my stomach lurched.  I loved Ruth and will miss her dearly, but the pain I felt was for Tom and Mike.  They already lost their dad way too soon and this seemed so impossibly unfair.  Ruth became acutely ill and before any of us knew she was sick, she died.  The past two weeks Tom has been taking care of Ruth's affairs and both he and Mike flew to New York on Monday to clear out her apartment.  Yesterday they held a wake and today there was a Mass and burial.  She's been laid to rest in the same plot as her mother who died just six months ago.  

We have been in such shock that the sadness hasn't had a chance to take over, but compiling these pictures brought the heartbreak to the surface.  And so as I type this through my tears, I'll share a little of Ruth with you.  It's so devastating to think I won't see her again, that the kids won't know her as they grow up and that Tom and Mike are essentially orphans now.  

I'm not sure the story with this picture, but Tom found it in her apartment and sent it to me.  She looks so lovely and happy.  

 Here she is (on the right) looking beautiful again with her sister Marie.

This is at our wedding.  I love this picture so much because both Tom and Ruth look very happy.  

 With sleeping Leo on her first visit as a grandma.  I was recovering from surgery and she was extremely helpful.

During this visit we went on a nature hike and she accidentally picked up a slug thinking it was a leaf.  It was disgusting and hilarious, and we loved to tell the story over and over.

During this visit I was fresh off of oral surgery.  I was so miserable and Ruth totally didn't care that I was cranky and, again, just pitched in and enjoyed her time with the kids.

Last summer we stayed with her during our big east coast trip.  Our visit was short but she loved being with the grandkids like always.  

Last November she came out for Thanksgiving with Mike.  On her last day in town we took her to the coast.  It was freezing and we were all slipping on the rocks, but she was a good sport about it all.

This is the last time the kids and I saw her.  I still can't believe it.