I spent more time with my grandmother towards the end of her life as she became the caregiver for her husband, Gilbert. Through that time, I would feel the fragility of her embrace and sometimes, her trembling sobs as she coped. It was the kindly comforting of a gentle woman; elderly, tired and yet, stronger than I ever knew. 

As the months passed by, I began to see her in a different light as a dedicated wife and a loving woman removed from my perceptions as a young boy. Sometimes, as I turned the corner to enter her bedroom, I would see her holding my grandfather's hand and kissing him on his brow. She had the enthusiasm of a teenager in those moments as I would hear her say, "I love you." Quietly, I would retreat. I thought they would be there forever.

Months later as the eager Spring melted away into the foreboding Winter, she lay in a hospital bed in the last days of her life. I have no idea what was going through her mind at that time, but I remember that my father told me, "You have to make sure she sees your grandpa one last time." And so, my mother and I wrapped my grandfather warmly and took him to the hospital, carefully moving him in a wheelchair. I remember...I'll never forget that moment I turned the corner with him and she saw him once again. She couldn't speak, but her eyes bloomed like a teenage bride; full of spirited love and eager happiness. She held his hand with excitement and slowly moved her lips to say, "I love you."

She passed away a few days later.

My grandmother showed me the endearing love of a woman, a wife, a mother and a grandmother. She taught me a strength that I often see in my own mother, her oldest daughter. And she embodied the idea that love can, indeed, be eternal. 

I miss her more each passing day. 

"Verily when someone dies, God sends an angel to the most grieved member of their family, who strokes their heart and makes them forget the agony of grief. And if it were not for this, the world would never thrive again."

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Sylvia Poa

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Sylvia D Poa

March 5, 1934 – November 22, 2018

Forest Park Westheimer Funeral Home & Cemetery

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