Dealing with Death in the E Family

First, I'd like to say that I feel extremely blessed to have had my grandparents live on earth as long as they did. All four of my grandparents were alive & fairly well up until last month. My grandfather (dad's dad) was the first to enter Heaven. He's had Alzheimer's disease for at least the past 8 years. His body was fairly healthy but his mind was another story. At the beginning of June, that started to change. He was admitted to the hospital with an infection in his foot and things just went downhill from there. My Dad along with his sister & brother stayed by his side the night of 6/27 until he passed on into eternity 6/28. Both of my dad's parents were living in a nursing home in Lufkin. They were admitted there after my grandmother was diagnosed with bone cancer in 2007 and couldn't live at home alone any longer. Anyway, my grandmother sat beside my grandfather's bed & held my his hand after he died. My dad said she told him something to the effect of "I'll be along shortly." PawPaw's funeral was July 2. Before the services began, Connor ran up to the casket & studied his body closely. I walked up behind him, expecting to answer any questions he had. Connor looked up @ me and said, "Mom, I think you lose your teeth when you die." Then he ran off to the back. Come to find out, my grandfather's dentures didn't fit him any longer due to his weight loss before he died. The funeral home tried to get them to fit as naturally as they could but he still didn't look like he had any teeth in his head.

This was not Connor's first time to see a lifeless body. My mother-in-law passed away in 2007 and Connor was almost 5. When he approached her casket at the visitation, he snuck up stealthly, crouching low & popped up to her body & yelled "Boo!" Of course nothing happened so he said it again. My 8 year-old niece was standing behind him and told him that she couldn't talk b/c she was dead. Connor promptly pokes my MIL's body on the forehead and surmises that "Yep, she's dead." He then runs off to play.

Just 3 weeks & 1 day after my grandfather's funeral, my grandmother enters eternity to be with him & Jesus. My aunt went to visit with her the weekend before she passed & everything had been fine. She left on Sunday & Grandma fell Sunday night, started throwing up then became unresponsive. The next morning she passed through the door way of death. I tell you , it felt like deja vu sitting at her services the following Friday. Almost eveything was the same: Chad was a pallbearer just as he had been three weeks prior, Connor sat to my left & my cousin's girlfriend sat to my right, the preacher was the same, the place was the same, the time of the services was @ 0900, & we ate at the church after the graveside service. The whole thing felt like the end of an era. No longer would we have a reason to travel to the town where my grandparents lived nor would all of my dad's family likely see each other as often - possibly never again.

These deaths had been weighing on my mind lately and I decided to read a book my Sunday School teacher had read & mentioned about to our class in the past - 90 Minutes in Heaven by Don Piper. The basic jist of the book is that the author, Don Piper, dies instantly in a car wreck in 1989. He immediately goes to heaven & describes his experience there in this book. A minister comes to the scene of the wreck & feels the Holy Spirit telling him to go pray for the dead man in the car. The minister climbs in through the wreckage, places a hand on Don Piper's shoulder & begins praying then singing a hymn. After being dead for 90 minutes, Don Piper comes back to life & starts singing along with the minister. I'm only half-way through the book & am at the part where Don Piper is describing his recovery - a horrible & gruesome recovery. Anyway, in one part of his experience in heaven, he speaks of his great grandmother. Here is a quote:

My great-grandmother, Hattie Mann, was Native American. As a child I
saw her only after she had developed osteoporosis. Her head and shoulders
were bent forward giving her a humped appearance. I especially remember
her extremely wrinkled face. The other thing that stands out in my memory
is that she had false teeth - which she didn't wear often. Yet when she
smiled at me in heaven, her teeth sparkled. I knew they were her own, and
when she smiled, it was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen.

I started laughing when I read that part, thinking about Connor's comment about losing your teeth when you die. Well, PawPaw must have one of the beautiful smiles on his face now & sparkly teeth to go along with it!