Ruth Whiddon

Have you ever known someone who's life was so full that when they are gone, it is the silence that drives you crazy? When I went home, to Alabama, last month, it was less than joyous occasion. This last year has been a hard one. I wonder at times, how much more God thinks I can take. My Aunt passed away last November, then my Grandpop and now my Grannie.

Ruth was born in 1917. She died at the age of 89! She lived a full life! So amazingly full. I can't think of her without thinking of joy and laughter and music. Sitting on the porch I realized the most unnerving thing was the lack of noise coming from the house behind me. Grannie couldn't sit still. I remember being exhausted as a child just trying to keep up with her. The only times I can remember her sitting still was when she was at the piano. She loved to play for hours.

When I was little, Grannie would come to visit us, no matter where we lived. We would have all kinds of fun! She was always full of life and fun. My mom loves to tell about when we were little she couldn't find my brother and cousin Dawn. Then she heard an engine. Looking out the window she saw Grannie driving a Go-Cart with David and Dawn in her lap - running laps around the house.

Grannie told stories - great, funny stories! Stories that you probably shouldn't tell children because they ought to make them scared or confused, but somehow didn't scar us too badly. :-) When we came to visit, she would pull out the matress on the floor and sleep with us and our cousins. Whoever went to sleep first got $5.00. It always took a long time to fall asleep because we would be laughing so hard.

What an amazing personality! She touched so many lives. She is truly missed. And though I know she is now at home with her Savior, Jesus Christ, whom she loved, I still miss her. Her mind and body which in the last two years had gotten so very bad, is now whole. Even when she couldn't remember for very long, her sense of humor was still intact and she was a little spit fire.

My heart hurts everytime I think of how much I miss her and how I wish I had gotten to spend more time with her. But that is focusing on me - and I choose to remember the reality of Heaven and the Joy I know she has there.