Heirlooms and Legacies from my Grandma Long

        Heirlooms are very important to me, considering I'm a history major. But, besides the historical aspect of heirlooms, they are also there to remember somebody or a certain time. Heirlooms aren't just objects, but they could be traits or even a part of your personality. You carry that legacy or experience that someone gave you. They're important because it's a part of human nature and you have them with you always in some form.

  

        I inherited a lot of things from my grandmother. I didn't just inherit a quilt, but I inherited her patience and I feel as if I inherited her writing abilities. She used to write poetry and I also inherited her musical abilities. I take pride in what she gave to me and I'm very thankful.

        As a child, I had only known my grandmother in the confines of a nursing home. But, that never stopped my mother from making it feel like home. My grandmother lived in the Beacon Pointe Rehabilitation Centre in Uhrichsville, OH. She led a simple life in that small nursing home room, but maybe that's what she needed.

        My mother and I would visit her and we would always sit on the small couch in her room. My mom read the newspaper and she talked to my grandma. And, sometimes when my mom would leave the room, my grandma would call me over to her and hold my hand when she told me, "You look just like your grandma Long." She said this to a lot of her grandkids, but I feel as if it made us all feel special. 

        When the nursing home would have special events taking place, my mom and I would always be there to be with my grandma and help her participate. We would go to the Easter egg hunts, tea parties, and we would even have trick-or-treating for Halloween at the nursing home. I was younger then, but this was a good bonding experience for the whole family to enjoy with my grandmother. 

        Despite all the good memories of my grandmother, there was also an element of sadness throughout the years that I knew her. She longed for comfort and attention because it's hard to be away from home. She also missed her husband that had died in the late 1970s from a heart attack. You could tell that she was lonely and we tried hard to fill that void with quality time with her. 

       When I was 14, my grandmother fell ill from pneumonia in her lungs. She was responsive for a little while, but she unexpectedly slipped away from awareness. 

        My family and the doctors were expecting death for about a week. She was put in the hospice house, and soon after she returned to the Beacon Pointe Rehabilitation Centre. 

         And, on February 9th after one of my choir concerts, my mom and I had visited grandma Long for one last time in that nursing home. Her breathing was shallow in her hospital bed and my mom started calling immediate family members. I stood by my grandmother, holding her hand one more time while having the recording of me singing during my concert was playing. She had never heard me sing before that night. 

         After a few minutes, my mom told me that my dad was going to get me and take me home. I didn't want to leave, but she insisted I didn't want to see my grandma pass. After I left, most of my aunts and my uncle were there sitting there with my mother, waiting for my grandma to pass. My mom placed a quilt on her and hugged her. As my mother hugged her, she let out one last breath. 

        Her funeral was on Valentine's Day and she was buried next to her husband, Charles Long. 

My Grandmother,
Mildred Lucille Scott Long
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/timesreporter/obituary.aspx?pid=163020598