This past weekend my entire extended family went to Pismo Beach to honor my Grandma that passed away just a few months ago. She grew up in Pismo and we all gathered to have a funeral service and a family reunion. I spent time with family members that before this weekend, were strangers. I remember when some of them were born and hadn’t seen them since…and now they are taller than me :)

It was a quick weekend, I felt like we needed more time. One moment that I will always remember is when us granddaughters came together with our Moms and fingered through Grandma’s jewelry. She didn’t wear very much, and what she had was modest and I’m glad to have chosen just a few small pieces that I can remember her by. A small heart to wear on a chain around my neck, it looks like a piece of gold Grandma may have panned for on one of her camping trips. A small shape of Baja Mexico to be worn as a necklace, Grandma & Grandpa would take their motor home and travel to Mexico quite often. She was always so supportive of my husband and I’s call to Mexico.

It all felt very eerily familiar since it just feels like yesterday that we did the same thing with my Grandma B’s jewelry. I lost both my Grandma’s within a year of each other…more than that my Mom lost both her mom’s within a year of each other. That is incomprehensible. In my reality…my Mom will always be with me.

To honor my Grandma, houses were rented on the beach, tons of food was brought and we all tried to laugh as much as possible. She wanted us to do that, and she would have loved to have been there. I am truly thankful for the weekend we all had together.

As soon as we pulled up to the driveway, something in me changed. It is the beach. It is the sun and the sand. I made my husband promise that we would live on the beach one day. I think more and more that we go there, he realizes how important it is to me. I’m not sure why the Lord has called me the middle of California and not the ocean’s edge, but one day I know I will get there.