Anyway, I will start with Nick's Gramma Dotty, or "Gammi" as she loved to be called. We found out about two years ago that Gammi had pancreatic cancer. She did chemo and basically stayed home for the next two years. She was always tired and went through different phases with the chemo....sometimes she felt good, sometimes she felt crummy. At the beginning of November we received word that Gammi was not doing well. Nick flew out over a long weekend and spent some time with her and his Papa Tony. He said it was heartbreaking to see her so sick and thin. Gramma and Papa have been so good to Nick. They've always been extremely close, and this is the first time Nick has gone through losing someone he's close to, so it's been difficult. He left on Monday and told Gramma we'd be back on Friday to begin our Thanksgiving holiday with the family. We didn't hear anything all week, just that Gramma was still fighting on. We arrived on Friday with cranky, tired kids after our long flight. I decided to keep the kids at Nick's dad's house while Nick, Pat, Scott, and Jenna (In-laws and Nick's sister) headed off to Malibu to see Gramma. They were at the house for about an hour when they noticed Gramma's breathing started to change. Within a few moments, she had peacefully passed away. Of course there was not a dry eye in the room.
Maya was playing outside that same night, and around 5:30pm came running in the house and exclaimed, "THERE'S a HUGE rainbow over the ocean! I want to take a picture." I gave her my phone and she ran back outside. I didn't think much of it, but later as Nick recounted the evening's events I realized the rainbow showed up at the same time that Gammie passed away. It was a very special moment for me. She is not here with us anymore, but whenever I see a rainbow I will be thinking about her and what an amazing person she was. I'm also thankful for a little girl who decided to take a picture that night.
I miss her so much already. She and Papa have always been so supportive of us. She loved hearing stories about the kids and saved all of the emails I sent her. I have saved her emails, too, and hope to read them to the kids when they are older so they know a little bit more about her. She loved sitting in her chair with a good book. She loved cooking. She loved watching movies with Papa. She loved her family and friends. She had the cutest laugh and smile. She loved watching Food Network. She loved sharing her history and Papa Tony's history. She loved good food. She was a hard worker and worked as a realtor up until the cancer was discovered. She was caring, thoughtful, and kind.
I think my favorite memory of Gammi is when we visited them in August, 2009. She was holding Josh (5 months old) and he grabbed her hand and started gnawing on it! She was so surprised and couldn't stop giggling as he gummed her hand for 20 minutes. I'm so happy I had my camera handy. This picture brings back such wonderful memories.
I'm thankful to have had her in my life for 13 years. She will be missed, but I know I will see her again someday.
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