Love Song for a Lady

I wrote this during the spring when my grandma had just been readmitted to the hospital. After I wrote it, I saved it to my computer where I found it tonight and I thought I would share. In the words of my sister Beth: "Marie Lenora Freeseman, you were a hero and I'll miss you more than I can say."

This afternoon I experienced the kind of woman that I hope someday to be. She was experiencing pain so intense that sometimes it was all she could do to focus on not being overcome by it. She has watched a parade of people pass through her room crying over saying goodbye to her, and tenderly she has shared her strength with them all - - she, the one who is actually saying goodbye - - has been doing the comforting. With a brush that paints grace and love she has painted us a picture of her love for us and her complete faith that we are going to be fine. She has given us the liberty to say our awkward “I love you’s” and “I’ll miss you’s.” She has encouraged us that life is for the living and that she won’t fault us for laughing at a funny movie or enjoying a beautiful spring day. Never once has she complained that she doesn’t get to enjoy this spring day, or that her turn to laugh over these things is coming to an end. In a moment where our heart’s desire is to love her, it is she who has loved us. It was her, not me, who did the comforting tonight. It was her, whose love was poured out. It was me who benefited. This is what I will miss. It is this strength and this beauty and this courage which has taught me and moved me and inspired me, and it is this towering strength which I will miss the most when we say goodbye. For now, I want to say: “thank you”. Thank you for letting me share this with you. Thank you for letting me be the one who is weepy. Thank you for giving me the grace to say the wrong thing. Thank you for being the woman that you are. I love you in ways I don’t know how to express. Thank you for understanding where my words fail.