To Gram with Love

For the last two years since I moved to Livonia, I drive by Glen Eden Cemetery during my regular commute to Walled Lake. I often think about Gram, my great-grandma Moldenhauer who is buried there. When Gram was failing, I was over in Tisovec, Slovakia, teaching English. I had known, when I signed up for a second year in Tisovec, that it was possible Gram might not be alive when I came back. But still, it was obvious God was calling me to return to serve overseas.

It was Holy Week 2002 when things were ending for Gram. And on Good Friday, as the world was marking the death of our Savior, the Moldenhauer clan lost their matriarch. What sweet timing, to imagine Gram celebrating Easter in heaven. It made our celebration of the Resurrection all the more precious, knowing that offered our hope of a heavenly family reunion. ("I know that my Redeemer liveth" is quoted on the headstone, I discovered today.)

That Easter I spent the weekend with my Slovak family (the Sisik family adopted me as their own that year). I was glad to be in home with loved ones, not alone in my apartment. But I still missed gathering with my family to say good-bye to Gram. As my dad said in his funeral sermon, we're just "macaroni & tomato kind of people" - simple, humble food for a simple family. But nothing beats the taste of family togetherness, especially at a time like that.

So today, when I had an abundance of tomatoes from the garden, and cooked up a fresh pot of macaroni & tomatoes (or "Moldenhauer's favorite," as we called it as kids), Micah had his first taste of a long-standing family tradition (I was relieved that he really liked it!). And it just seemed right to finally make the trip to Glen Eden today.

Armed with a map of the grounds from my dad, and Micah in his stroller, we made our way and found the headstone for Charles and Rose Moldenhauer. I never met my great-grandpa - he passed away in 1961. But Gram was a wonderful woman, full of humor and always so grateful for our visits, first to Detroit and then to South Bend, when she moved down there.

With me I brought a cherry tomato from the garden. It was a reminder to me of the fruit that has come from my Gram - a family legacy of faith. We are blessed to have had such strong spiritual leaders in the family. They were simple folk - not much education - and poor, but very rich in faith. That strong faith has born fruit in the generations that followed.

And I brought two tomato blossoms - a reminder to me of hope of what is to come - that heavenly reunion. Someday Micah will get to meet my Gram. And that thought made me smile through my tears today.  :)