GRANDMA FISH

THIS IS A COPY OF AN EMAIL I SENT TO MY FAMILY TODAY:

Dear Family,
I'm assuming we have all heard that Grandma Fish has gone home. I wish I could put my arms around each of you and give you a big hug. Even when we know our loved one is leaving it is a surprise and we are not prepared for them to go quite yet. Being 93 years old, she has wanted to go home for several years. In her letters she would write that she was ready whenever her Heavenly Father called her but she didn't know why she hadn't gone yet. Imagine the joy she experienced as she passed through the veil to be greeted by Grandpa Fish, her three(?) little girls and your father Don Ray!

There is so much we can learn from parents and grandparents as we reflect on their lives. Often we get caught up in our routines and challenges and fail to look their way. I am reminded of my mother. I think my mother lingered long after she was able to be "productive" because the rest of her family needed her. We learned to love her even more deeply as we served her. She was helpless. We were able to return to her a small portion of all her years of service and I believe our love for her grew as we did so.

Grandma Fish is one of the sweetest women I have ever known. You know how people say "I never heard so-so complain or say something unkind"? Well, that really was your Grandma Fish. I have seen her in many difficult situations through the years and she always thought of others first. When she would come visit us when you kids were young, she was always a sweet support and unselfishly pitched in and helped where ever she could often doing your jobs. She never said anything unkind or critical.
Didn't we love the cards she sent for our birthdays? Did we thank her enough? She never forgot us and didn't care if we remembered her or not. Just within this last year she told me that she couldn't continue to send out the cards but that her love for her family was just as great and she remembered us each on our special days. Her loved ones were the most important thing in her life.

And most of all I admire her love and testimony of her Heavenly Father, her Savior and the truthfulness of the restored Gospel. I'm pretty certain that this is the one thing she would want you to remember about her. I believe she was a wonderful example of "enduring to the end in righteousness" .

You are probably all being flooded with your own memories of Grandma. I hope there are things you have learned from her. There always seems to be something that I wish I had done better while a loved one was still with me. I think the lessons we learn from others are part of the reason we are blessed to have them in our lives.

So how can we each be a better person? How can we be a better family because of Grandma Fish? We are her family as well and our happiness is very important to her. Do you think she would want us to be closer together, love each other more, show more acceptance and patience to each other in our differences and support each other more in our challenges, and endure to the end in righteousness?
. We are a wonderful family but If we could be an even better family because of things we have learned from Grandma, I know she would be very happy. Me, too!.

Remember we are Fish Family Forever!
I love you each best!
Mom