If it's not one thing, it's your mother...: Grandma Shirley

It has certainly been a tough year with regard to grandparents at our house. Just as I am gearing up for our semi-beach vacation, I find out we are about to have to head to freezing temperatures, rain and snow in order to say goodbye to my grandmother.

Grandma Shirley passed away Saturday night. She was not in very good health, but her passing was certainly sudden. So quick that it didn't seem real for quite a while and maybe if I'm honest, I still haven't wholly realized it.

My mom's family lives in Illinois, for the most part, so growing up I had a long-distance relationship with that side of the family. Since Jarrod and I have lived in Arkansas for the last two years, and are actually about 5 or 6 hours closer than we've ever been before, we've been back twice now to visit my grandparents. I am so thankful for those visits.

My grandma was a character, and to know her was to love her. I have said before that my grandparents remind me of Marie and Frank Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond. They could bicker like nothing else, and my grandma would not hesitate for a moment to tell you what she thought of something. But she raised four children of her own, cared just as much for two sons my grandpa had from a prior relationship and she took immense pride in how large their family had grown with all of us grandkids and great-grandkids.

I've learned a lot about my grandma since becoming an adult. I've learned that she was an incredibly loyal person. She would do anything for a family member, and she only wanted to see each of us happy and successful. She may have told us how the cow ate the cabbage, but she did it out of love for each of us.

How deeply she loved is evidenced by her marriage to my grandpa. She and my grandpa would have been married for 60 years this November. To be with a person for that long is mind-blowing to me at this point in my life.

She told me at the rehearsal dinner for my wedding that marriage was really hard. She said it was work every day. I think she and my grandpa could bicker with each other because they both knew that neither of them was going anywhere. I'm thankful for her example and for her love.