MawMaw Isaac

Last Wednesday, my very favorite grandmother, MawMaw, passed away. Her funeral was on Good Friday. When I posted about my fondness of Nutty Buddies and my sweet memories of MawMaw several weeks ago, that was before her turn for the worse. She also taught me to sew, made the best creamy rice and always had a way of making me laugh! Even in the past year or so, she'd chase the boys with her detested walker, scare them with intentionally mis-installed dentures and trick them by hiding their treats when they weren't looking.

She was 85 years old and had been struggling with dementia & declining health for several years. She was blessed with 6 children, 17 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren and had a long, fruitful life. She was also the first female in North Carolina to undergo open heart surgery - at the age of 40. What a testament to her strength, courage and faith!

The weekend before Easter, I was able to make a trip to Hickory with the boys and spend some time with her telling her good-bye. She was not visibly aware of her surroundings, but I am certain she knew I was there and how much she meant to me. It was such a blessing to have that time with family and with her, in the family home that my grandfather built 60 years ago and that my dad & of all of my aunts & uncles were raised in. The boys brought a joyful noise to the house, which is all that its known for the past 6 decades.

Oh, and the house is haunted. I've never experienced it myself but everyone else seems to have their own stories of creepy happenings, dating back to when my dad was a young boy and things would disappear & reappear days later, or lights would come on by themselves in the middle of the night. Rumor has it that when PawPaw built the house, it was on the former site of "Grandpa Huffman's" house and he had buried a sack of gold underneath his house. When PawPaw was building their house, he dug out a huge basement in search of the buried gold. The gold was never found, but the house ended up with an enormous basement and a restless spirit that haunts but not harms. And even as a teenager, when I'd spend the night at MawMaw's, I would sleep in the bed with her, just in case. And even in the recent years, MawMaw's caretakers would hear footsteps upstairs and doors slamming...and they did not know of the haunted history of the house when they shared their stories.

I sure will miss MawMaw, but I know she's smiling down on us. I hope that one day I can be blessed with grandchildren so I can be the kind of MawMaw that she was to me.




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