Risk & Reward

Danger all around

Death's arrival guaranteed

Still, I awaken

Elections

"Vote for me!", they shriek

Our hungry, hungry hippos

Mountains see and sing

Unconditional Love

My earliest memory is of my grandmother, Cecelia Katherine Holmes, walking me home from my first day of kindergarten. Almost twenty years later, I had the honor of delivering the eulogy at her funeral. And today, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of her death, I share those words with you, that the grace she embodied might continue to live.

Who was Kay Holmes?

I could say all the usual things that you see in the obituaries, but she was so much more than that. At her very essence she was love. Her entire being, personality, mannerisms; everything resonated with love. And not just any love, but the kind of unconditional love that you rarely see.

Kay was the kind of person who made everyone feel like family. She lived it with her sisters. She instilled it in her children and grandchildren. She became part of her in-laws families, to the point that they considered her “Grandma” as much as we did. She gave it to her tenants and everyone else she came into contact with. She even talked about the announcers on the Home Shopping Channel like her kids.

That was the other remarkable thing about Kay, her ability for storytelling. She kept everyone connected, because whenever you talked to her, she would go on and on about everyone else in the family. She loved to tell you everything she could about what her kids and grandkids were doing. She loved to talk about all the people she had come into contact with that day.

But as much as she talked, she also loved to listen. She wouldn’t give advice, she’d just take her time and listen. She had a spirit so gentle, patient, and tolerant, that you felt safe with her. She could be your grandma one minute and your best friend the next.

I think one anecdote from the past few days sums up who Kay was. As the mortuary workers were about to take her out of the apartment, her canary, who had been completely silent up until then, broke out into this amazingly beautiful song. You can call it coincidence, animal instinct, or whatever you like, but we all know the truth. God sang to her and to us through that canary; praising her for a life well lived and telling us to be proud of all that she was and all that she gave. She was God’s unconditional love here on earth and she gave it every day of her life.

That was who Kay Holmes was.

And it is entirely fitting that she died on the Solemnity of All Saints.

I miss Grandma Kay, but I know that I will see her again someday. Until then, I strive to be a man of whom she will be proud; for that is the true definition of success.