The Cole's

Going out of town last minute with two kids is pretty tough, but I am so thankful that my kids are pretty well bahaved, or else I wouldn't even attempt it. My mom called me last night, and my Grandma passed away Tuesday. She had a severe heart attack.

When my mom was 11, her biological mom (Katie Ruth) died in a car accident and then a few years later, her dad remarried to a lady name Audna Mae. She had 4 daughters, all whom were much older than my mom and my mom was never that close to any of them. After the death of my Grandpa in 1997, my Grandma had a stroke and wasn't able to communicate as well, so one her daughters (DJ) took her in. I have not seen my Grandma since 1998, right after I graduated high school because DJ would never let us (or any of our family as a matter of fact) see her. We never knew if my Grandma was well taken care of or not. We would hear stories of DJ taking Grandma along with DJ's husband and his mom around the US in a motor home, traveling from state to state. I never thought that was a good idea since my Grandma wasn't able to speak very well and she was an elder. As a matter of fact I just found out that she died in Florida. I didn't even know that they were living in Florida!! Whenever my mom and I would go to our annual "family reunion" in south Arkansas in the summer, we would drive by where they were living but I think they always knew what weekend we would be coming (regardless if we called or not) and they would leave so that we couldn't see my Grandma.

I don't even know if my Grandma knew that I got married, and that was 6 years ago, or if I had kids. I sent a wedding invitation and also birth announcements along with Christmas cards every year and never received anything back.

Needless to say, I have to go to her funeral, she was married to my Grandpa (he was my favorite) and she made him happy and I do have many good memories with her. It will be interesting to see family that I haven't seen in a long time, and also sad that I missed so much of my Grandma after she had her stroke.

I will be leaving in the morning with Caleb and Ariel and then we will be back on Saturday night. It's about a 6 hour drive.
Here is a link to her funeral home site and her obituary:
http://www.lewisfuneralhome.biz/ObitFrame.htm
click on Audna Diffee