Missing our Virginia

In 1968, my Dad took a job in Franklin, met a very nice girl, and was invited to go to dinner in The Terrace Garden apartments.  It was a very good year.  The job became his career, the girl his bride, and that dinner was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.  Mom and Dad and Ginni and Lane have been a perfectly matched set of friends since before forever in the lives of their children...at least the two legged human ones.  Wiggins Grafton was the first pup to discover this foursome was a pile of fun, and for the human kids, Wiggins has legendary status.

Lane and Louie bonded over Steelers football and their wives delicious dinners!  Susan and Ginni began their bond as fellow teachers, and they soon realized they were two peas in a pod!  They showered each other in times of joy and comforted one another in times of sorrow.  For Lanie, Adrienne, and I, the girls were the planners and organizers of everything... from yard sales, to tea parties, snazzy costumes to fit the season, and lots of laughter.

The daily sound of normal has been the sound of the phone ringing and a sweet voice asking is "Your Mother there?".  Then my reply, "It's Aunt Ginni" as I hand the phone over knowing that the daily chatter of what's happening in our lives will commence.  This rather ordinary event has suddenly become the silence of a phone that seems to forgotten how to ring the same old tune.  Our lives have changed, and we sit here wishing for the cheery smile and grin.  We're missing the little details that we've come to think as ordinary but have really been that extraordinary presence that we think of as our dear Virginia.

If you only knew her in the classroom as a student, you might have missed her fun loving self.  But after all, she had to deal with the pre-pubescent hoard that thinks they are always right.  She taught lots of lessons to her students and expected our very best work because she knew we could do it if we really really tried!  But the best lesson of all she taught was how to be a true friend!  With kindness and love, attention to detail and fun, she was a feisty trooper in all she went through, and she always
seemed to have a place to go and people to see!

Our Ginni was a treasure hunter. Shopping at Gimbals, Kauffman's, Hornes, Macy's, and Nordstrom were all most definitely her style.  But so were the shopping jaunts to Goodwill, Sally Ann's, and the local humane society shop... She could find treasures in lots of locations, and most definitely knew where to look!  My mother sometimes wonders where I get the shopping genes, when I tell her my aunts, Aunt Ginni is most definitely to be included on the list as a grand champion shopper.  Mom and Ginni's shopping adventures have been a regular part of life, and when I think about it have included items like Atari and iPads, baby dolls and clothing for the grand baby, and most definitely Steeler gear!   You ought to be impressed by her shopping talents when you know that on the way home from the beach, she was able to convince my dad to stop at a sale just for fun!  But by far the treasure she loved best was her family and friends and one very special grand boy named Fox!  She spent her best treasures on them, her time and her talents.

Oh yes, we are missing our Virginia!  Her laughter, and smiles, her charm, and her wit!  The tone of her voice and the roll of her eyes!  The details she noticed and the things that she did...from hospital sales, to trips to Paree or perhaps more likely the sea, from card club and lunch bunches, to providing decor.  You name it, she did it, and helped quite a bunch from little bitty kiddies to the very very old.  She was compassionate, well organized, and had talents galore!

Miss Virginia Wolfe was a blessing to her Mom and Dad, and like me, she was the favorite, which made them very glad.  As high school sweethearts, her groom was blessed to have known her in her teenage days.  She was a stylish sixties bride!  Mrs. Grafton was familiar in Central's grand halls, her friends on the faculty knew that her goal was to help Central students to be all they could be!  To Lanie and Adrienne, their mom was a wonder!  And to my family, you can see, she was adopted family!  We love her and miss her!  There are thousands of lives she touched, and cherished  memories made along the way!

There are a zillion things missing in our lives that all came bundled in the blessing we knew as Ginni.  We are thankful to have been a special part of her life.  We were blessed to have been a special part of hers.

I have mentioned little elements that made Ginni "Ginni"!  She was a darling daughter, a fabulous friend, a wonderful wife, a marvelous Mother, a creative colleague, an amazing aunt, a terrific teacher, and a truly grand Grandmother!  We are definitely missing our Virginia!  But as much as our lives have been flipped upside down by her passing, and as sad as we are at missing her, there is one part of her life that helps to gladden our hearts and make us know that just as always before she had a place to go and people to see, when she left this world, she left us to go on to the most amazing place and to be with Jesus our savior.   Her faith was rock solid.  This Christmas, our choir will be singing about surrendering your life to God our creator, our redeemer, our ever present help, and the one who loves each of us so much that the miracle in the manger happened.  Ginni was a part of our choir, and had sung with us as we began learning that song, and it occurred to me that all of the everything that was a part of her life wasn't as important as her relationship with Jesus.  He is our hope and our strength as we are weak.  We are missing our Virginia, but we are trusting our Lord that He has welcomed her home.