Simple Story of a Matriarch

My family buried the body of my great grandmother today. She was 102 years young at the time of her death, some say 103. This beautiful soul was born into the world at the beginning of 1916 and out-lived every family member before her, along with every friend from her upbringing. World War I was still being fought in 1916; Woodrow Wilson was the President, while there was still an Emperor in China. In November of the same year America began its first 40-hour work week, and the first self-serve grocery store was opened.

Ida's eyes have seen almost every decade in the 1900's and 18 years of the 2000's.

We have come a long way from the establishment of the League of Nations; the discovery of Pluto; completion of the Empire State Building and the Berlin Wall; beginning and end of World War II and Vietnam; invention of insulin, air conditioning, stock market, car radio, seat belts, television, t-shirt, bikini, ball point pen; Mount Everest being climbed for the first time; the opening of Disney Land; the assassinations of JFK and MLK; segregation and integration; the first landing on the moon and test tube baby; the rise and fall of dictators around the globe; 9/11; and countless other events that have evolved in the United States over the last 100 years.

Ida's eyes have seen feast and famine, laughter and tears, life and death, sickness and health, love and hate, happiness and sadness, yet she pushed on with a smile on her face and warmth in her heart. She loved one man, birthed six children, mothered several foster children, sat with the neighborhood children, and fed nearly 200 descendants as they came through her door on a regular basis. She baked bread and drank wine. The love in her heart was like none other.

Ida's eyes experienced a full, loving, happy life as many of us could only dream of living. I consider myself very blessed to have looked into Ida's eyes only a few days before they closed. They were still filled with love, and transferred much knowledge to me without words.

Experiencing the last day her physical body was above the ground was a day I will never forget. I describe the sound that was made when the family stood up to visit her casket one last time as none other than Unity. The love surrounding her body until the very last minute was profound and life changing.

God knew what he was doing when he allowed each birth in her family -- from her first child, to the last great great great-grandchild, six generations later. We have all been given a great gift; if only the whole world could have known her. May she rest in Eternal Peace.

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