Goodbye, Grandma Hottman. We love you.

It’s a contemplative Holiday Season in our family this year. While it’s been a joyous time with the many wonderful things we’ve experienced in 2010, we are also saying goodbye to Grandma Hottman, a woman who has blessed us all in many ways throughout the years.

Sadly, Grandma passed away yesterday.

Grandpa Don says that we should celebrate her wonderful 92 year life, and we will. But, saying goodbye isn’t easy, especially to someone who has been such a fixture in our family. I just always thought she would be here with us.

Lance and I were up late into the night last night, reflecting on our many memories of Grandma, and the things we loved most about her: 

-Her striking resolve to live. Lance says that it is nothing short of amazing that Grandma kept herself going physically over the last 5 years – most of the time, it was nothing but her sheer fortitude. We have to laugh at the way that stubborn will seems to resound in her descendants (namely with a certain great granddaughter who willed herself to walk in less than 2 months without bothering to crawl first….because, like Grandma, she just decided to make it happen).

-Her laughter. I loved it when Grandma said something to make me laugh – she would laugh too, and it would make me laugh even harder. Those were joyous moments, and I miss them already.

-Her love for “her boys”. Grandma absolutely loved her boys – Lance & Kip were her heart and soul: countless trips to the toy store “to look” that resulted in video games and action figures, slipping a $20 here and there to them throughout college (and even adulthood in some instances), and loving Rebecca and I like we were her own granddaughters from the beginning simply because Lance and Kip loved us.

I have countless treasured memories of Grandma, but the most important to me is what would be one of our last visits with her on Monday. She didn’t want to go, but we took her to listen the Christmas carolers down the hall at the rehab center. As we listened to the music, she relaxed and seemed genuinely at peace for the first time in a long time. She even shook her jingle bells with Lyla and clapped with her throughout our visit. I’m glad they had those moments together so we’ll be able to share them with Lyla someday.

I know it’s cliché, but we’re glad that Grandma is in a better place – I imagine her in Heaven, enjoying a feeling of youth all over again, maybe at a karaoke bar (one of her favorite past times) with Papa June, her friends and family.

So, that’s what our family will be celebrating this Holiday Season, along with our many blessings.

We love you, Grandma.