René of the Day // 8.12.11 // Muffy

Grandma Brunelle was referred to for quite some time as "Grandma Muffy" because my sister would steal her "ear muffins." Cute huh? And she'd always recite the Little Miss Muffet rhyme to us as little girls. My grandfather, who passed away before I was born, called her the "Mighty Midget." My body built a lot like hers. We lived with her the first few years of my life and we spent every summer with her... She taught me to read at a very young age and fostered my obsession with books; she taught me to swim. She'd scold me for playing in the creek but was always proud of my box of fossils I collected. I love her massive king size bed - we were so little you could roll 5 times without going over the edge, and the two tiger paintings above it. My sister & I would take turns on who got to sleep next to her in the middle. Her house was laid out in a circle and we would run around and around inside... and pretend to swim in her bright blue bath tub.

I kept a shoebox of plastic rosarys and little pamphlets I'd get from her Catholic church, idolizing her faith that I didn't quite understand - but I loved her friends that we would stuff bulletins with every Friday for the church. My heart will forever hurt because I didn't get to stay goodbye - we were so very close but I was spending the summer in Connecticut and didn't know her health was quite as bad as it was - a simple diabetic infection in her leg that she was too stubborn to seek treatment for - which I think happens all too often with the elderly.

I drove home 12+ hours with Pinzi and my mom told me as soon as I got home that she'd passed the day before - they didn't want me driving home with that on my mind. I wrote her letters that summer and was upset to have missed her 80th birthday in June. I remember reading a letter on the dock of the lake one day from my dad and I had a gut feeling she didn't have much time left. I wish I'd had the courage to write something at her service - she always encouraged me to write - but I couldn't compose myself well enough to speak. I visited her at Gate of Heaven on my lunch hour and left these white daisies and baby roses... When I have more time, I like to recite the rosary and spend time looking over at the little lake near the family plots. I miss her.