A final goodbye...

However long it has been since we've seen someone from our past, the love or friendship that is shared between two people closes the time gap no matter how large or small it may be and allows for one to feel as though no time had passed at all.

My grandmother, Ilynn C. Bradshaw, was one of those people. Raised in Southern Utah. Married Lafey LaVel Bradshaw. Became a mother to seven children - all of whom she raised while helping to tend the dairy farm and keep life in order no matter how hectic things got. She was born with fair skin and deep red hair. Some of which I see from time to time in Jessica's beautiful blonde hair. Grandma always had a beautiful smile.

Before moving here to Mobile we took the opportunity to visit with her one last time. When we first walked into the home where she had been living for the past few years it seemed as though she might just remember who I was this time. But that small spark of memory in her eyes quickly melted away as she shook our hands and excitingly ask the kids over and over again, "Are you here to see somebody?" They would smile as they held her hand and say, "Oh yes grandma! We're here to see you!"

I spent several summers during my teenage years living in Manderfield, Utah with Grandma on the farm. Doing the chores. Cleaning the barns. Helping around the house. But never failing to go home after three full months with hundreds of new memories and a warm feeling of closeness to a woman so far in age from me but someone I felt who was exactly like me.

When I got my mission call to Korea I spent two weeks with Grandma before I entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. I teased her for years about how she was my very first mission companion. An honor I think we both secretly enjoyed. When my grandfather passed away before I had the opportunity to tell him personally that I had chosen to serve a mission for the church, she took me aside and said very matter of factly. "He knew Lisa..." "He knew you would always serve a mission."

Those few words made my heart feel so much better. For not having said a word about my regrets to tell Grandpa when I had the chance just a few short weeks before his death, Grandma knew exactly what I needed to hear. She then pulled out a think book of cards and letters underneath a large stack of papers. She handed it to me and told me to look through it. It was every card and letter my grandfather had ever sent her. Something so personal and private to her, I was astounded that she had offered to let me look over such personal private memos. It is a memory of both my grandmother and grandfather that I cherish very much.

Yesterday afternoon the Bradshaw family laid my grandmother to rest in Beaver, Utah. She was finally home. Home where she could remember. Home where she could laugh again. Home where her husband waited for her and whom she missed so much. Although we will miss her, our memories of her will live on. Goodbye Grandma. We will surely miss you.