Sunday, November 18, 2018
From Diane Doughman – Daughter-in-law of Beulah Doughman. -- If I could be in two places at once, I would be with all of you to say a final goodbye to Grandma. I visited her often at Otterbein, and I said goodbye silently so many times as I walked away. As I drove through the desert to San Diego on Friday, I thought of all the memories I had of her, from the early years of my 47 yearlong marriage to her son, through my last good visit before the stroke when she taught me how to make an apple pie her way. She showed me how to slice the apples really thin and layer spiced sugar throughout.
She was as good and kind, as loyal and welcoming as any soul, and everyone who had the pleasure of abiding in her ample kitchen was blessed. I loved her. We all loved her. And she loved being a wife, a mom, a grandma and a great grandma. But she was also a working mom at a time when many weren’t. I know she weathered her share of challenges with inner strength and strong faith. And oh, how she loved to cook.
I remember so long ago when she proudly taught me how to do canning. And occasionally she would vouchsafe a prized recipe like corn casserole. “You are the only one I’m giving this to,” she would say. “Promise you won’t give it to anyone else.” Only years later did I find out she gave that same recipe and speech to other admirers of her cooking.
But more than anything she loved it when family came home. And with every year that the family grew larger, her joy at having them visit grew as well. We will all treasure in our hearts those Thanksgiving’s with the house jammed to the rafters with babies squealing, tykes running about, grown children chattering and daughters-in-laws helping make and clean up the grandest of feasts. And then there was Euchre, enjoyed well past midnight.
For far too long this beloved member of our family was in the land of the sequestered and the declining. It pained us all to have that be so. But now her eternal spirit is free, free to visit with us again. She is free to enjoy her liberated status as a grandmother spirit, a guide and guardian of those she loved in life and will continue to love on the other side.
It is my unwavering belief and certainty that the divine essence, the eternal spirit which is our true nature never dies. Our limited human bodies only house that eternal spirit for a temporary given span of time. So, grieve as you need to, but know that this wonderful mother and grandmother has been received on the other side with a divine love in even greater measure than all the love she gave on this side. Look and listen for the subtle signs she might give you that she is well and watching, that she is in joy and peace. The love of a mother and grandmother is like no other. Carry her in your heart and she will never be far away. – I send my love to you all -- Diane
