30 Songs in 30 Days, Day 5 - A song that reminds you of someone

McHargue's Mill - London, KY

(That's Chelsea waving from inside the cabin)

Man, this 30 Day Song Challenge has quickly grown into a Commitment, and I hate Commitments!

At first it's all fun and games, your favorite this, happy that, but all of a sudden we're down to the nitty gritty, and I want, no I NEED a month or two to procrastinate about this!

So I guess it's not that I don't like Commitments...I just like to think about things in my own time.

Dwayne and I HAVE been together for more than 17 years, right?! Just, you know, not married, yet. :)

I have been committed to this blog since 2004, right?! With a whole 356 posts to show for it, LOLOLOL!!!!

Sorry, just venting. I always keep my Commitments when I am dumb enough to make them.

When my grandparents first got married, my grandpa had a huge painting commissioned of my grandmother sitting on the wall above the Little Laurel River at McHargue's Mill (pictured above) in Levi Jackson State Park in London, KY. 

My grandpa understood my grandma and her love for Laurel County. He was truly my grandma's soul mate. They were each other's best friend, and they went everywhere together.

So, Moma and Popa came back one day from...somewhere, some bluegrass festival, or maybe Renfro Valley, talking about a new duo they'd heard of called Dailey and Vincent, and a song they sang called By The Mark.

They made us sit in the family room while they played it for us, over and over.

Every time we visited, they played it for us.

My grandparents had sort of figured out CDs, but they didn't know about copying them. They bought at least five copies of the same CD...one for the truck, one for the van, one for the living room, one for upstairs, one for downstairs...

Jamie Dailey & Darrin Vincent, of course, became a big huge name in bluegrass circles, and my grandparents went to every show they could. The last show they went to, Moma was pretty sick from the chemo, and Jamie & Darrin, who by now recognized Moma and Popa the Super-Fans, were so sweet to her...our whole family is eternally in their debt.

By The Mark, 

written by Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, 

performed by Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent

Go Wherever You Wanna Go

In the few days before my grandma died, she slipped into a coma and never woke up.

I had trouble understanding the concept. In the back of my mind, I always thought she would get better.

We spent all of our time at my grandparent's house. I would sit in Moma's room and hold her hand, while her favorite band, Dailey & Vincent, played softly in the background.

At Dwayne's insistence, I called my dad. I honestly hadn't even thought about it. My grandma had always thought of my dad like a son, and my dad loved my grandma.

My dad came to see her and admonished me for not calling sooner. I hadn't talked to him in over a year. And I was still in denial...thinking my grandma was going to wake up.

That same night, the night before she died, I was talking to my grandpa about her terrible breathing. She seemed to be struggling... My grandpa said that was the 'death rattle'.

The next day I sat with Moma some more...I held her hand, and told her I loved her, and begged her to wake up, but she never did. I finally kissed her goodbye, and Dwayne, Chelsea and I left.

We weren't gone five minutes before my mom called me and said just two words, "Come back."

We went back and I ran in the house and my grandpa said, "She's gone."

.....................................................................................................

After everything was over, after the wild grief that I hope to never ever have to go through again, my mom told us,

She was sitting with Moma and holding her hand, and suddenly Moma's breathing eased up, and she was breathing so easily. My mom called out for everyone to come. Moma was lying there, so peaceful, breathing so easily, and while Mom was still holding her hand, Moma just slipped away.
..................................................................................................

That was two years ago. I was in no shape to write about this until now. I'm still writing it with tears running down my face, but it's really okay.