I received word on Monday morning that my grandmother on my mom’s side had passed away. Of my extended family members that have passed on, Grandma Bishop has been the one I’ve been closest to. Both of my grandfathers died when I was still fairly young, so the bond didn’t have as much time to develop. In fact, the women have long outlived their husbands on both sides of my family (which seems to be a troubling pattern). She had lived a full life, and I trust that it was her time to take this next step in her eternal journey.
I’ve had a few days to reflect on the influence that my grandma has had on my life. The first thing that comes to mind is the importance of family. My memories of going to visit Grandma Bishop usually meant that we were going to get together with all of my aunts, uncles and cousins. Trips to Grandma Bishop’s meant games of football in the yard, digging up potato bugs, the giant pig next door (was his name George?), picking grapes from the vine, checking out the outdoor fish tank, intense board game battles, tons of delicious food and lots of laughs. Most importantly it meant that everyone was going to be there. When you start adding up all the aunts and uncles, the 15 grandchildren and the random friends and neighbors that might stop by, it was never a small group. And with a few exceptions it was always like that. Everyone would make the trip to Grandma’s. The bond that was developed with my extended family during those times became very strong, and we still maintain contact regardless of how far we have moved away from one another. I think that The Bishop Bunch has kept family close because of Grandma Bishop’s influence. After all, she did live in the house right behind Great Grandma Rich for all those years. You can’t keep family much closer than that.
Another thing that came to mind was how cool Grandma Bishop was. One of the things I like to think about with older people is whether or not I would have hung out with them in school. Grandma Bishop was one of the old people who would have made the cut. I don’t know what exactly that means, but I think it means that I would have liked her even if we weren’t family. On the occasions that we would have friends and family together she was always talking my friends’ ears off. We would tell them that she used to be an exotic dancer. She not only went along with it, but said that her stage name was “Long Legs BJ”. She seemed to fit right in. She didn’t let technology slow her down. I was out of the country when the whole internet thing happened. When it came to email and instant messaging, she was way ahead of me. She not only had a Facebook account, but she constantly used it. She would keep us up to date on how she was feeling, she would send out birthday wishes and she would let you know what she thought of the activities you posted. She wasn’t a person of rich means and she always “wished she could give more”, but for me she epitomized the phrase, “It’s the thought that counts”. She was someone I liked being around.
The thing I will remember most about Grandma Bishop is her laugh. People have often said that I have a wonderful sense of humor (Nobody has actually said that to me out loud, but I’m sure they are thinking it). I think my unique sense of humor has many influences (many of which would probably not like to be named), but I see a lot of my sense of humor being similar to Grandma Bishop’s. We both could be a bit irreverent at times, we both could get loud at exactly the wrong moment, we both could be the butt of a joke for the sake of the laugh and we both could usually find the humor in serious situations. My missionary companions always chuckled about me getting mail from Long Legs BJ, and then finding out that it was from my grandma. And she always kept me up to date on what was happening with the O.J. trial.
As I look back on all my experiences with Grandma Bishop the one that keeps coming to the front of my mind is a time when she was over at my parents’ house. I don’t remember what the occasion was, but I remember us sitting on the couch and watching the movie “The Naked Gun” together. That is my all-time favorite movie. Some people might not think that it is the best movie to sit and watch with your grandmother, but I’m not some people and my grandma isn’t your average grandmother. We sat there laughing louder and louder as the jokes got stupider and stupider. I recall one particular scene that made her laugh so hard that she started crying. And that is how I will remember my grandma; laughing together at something mildly inappropriate.
I regret that she never got to meet Sawyer, but my faith in the afterlife gives me the hope that they will one day get to laugh together. I’m not sure how everything goes down after death, but I can picture Grandma giving Grandpa a piece of her mind for leaving this life so many years before her. Then I see them grabbing their fishing gear, with the sound of grandma’s laughter tailing off as they head to the lake.
Until we meet again Long Legs BJ, I’ll keep the laughter going.
