31.August

In recent history, I think most people equate August 31st with Hurricane Katrina- one of the greatest natural tragedies to occur in our country.
That was quite the event to live through, even 800 miles away.
The sadness and despair will forever be etched in our minds.

But I remember August 31st a little differently because it first was a happy day for our family, years before Katrina.
It was our beloved Zelmo's birthday.
If you don't know who Zelmo was, let me give you a little history.
Her real name was ZELMA with an A.
She was Evan's "Mama Wood" and Evan's mom's "Mama".
And when our kids were born, Haley nicknamed her "Zelmo" because she thought her name sounded like "Elmo".
She was the best grandmother ever.
Her heart was endless with it's love.
She took me in when Evan and I dated as if I had been a part of the family forever.
I absolutely adored her.
Everything about her.
She was witty, smart, thoughtful, caring, concerned and just a truly wonderful woman.
I loved getting to go eat with her as she cooked everything from scratch.
And every now and then she would make Evan a special lunch of cubed steak or salmon patties when I wasn't around. He loved those 2 meals she made and of course as picky as I am, those 2 didn't make my list. So she would make them and invite him over as her special guest.
It was very cute.
I have so many great memories of Zelmo. Too many to put down on this blog.
And all good memories- that's what I love. We had only good memories.

Zelmo passed away on January 2nd, 2006. She died suddenly in the middle of the night. But we were told she died instantly, which I am so thankful for.
For you see, the day before she died, we had the most amazing day with her.
We gathered for New Year's supper. We watched family videos and we spent a lot of time talked and being family. And I'm fairly certain we all said " I love you" before we left to go home that night.
So when Zelmo died, we were all at peace. We didn't know we were saying good bye for now that night. But we did and it was perfect. She went to be with Jesus and we now have beautiful memories of our last hours with her.
So August 31st is a good day. A day we will remember our sweet Zelmo.