When Jason decided to steal a kid's jacket at church, it made me laugh to the point of a stomach ache and almost caused an episode of incontinence. My stomach muscles were sore, and it hurt pretty bad...

It almost hurt as bad as the time I consumed an entire jar of home-made cookies in less than 1 hour flat. It's a sickness for sure. Which reminds me...when I taught English in China several years ago, we would go to
Walmart to stock up on some "normal" food for the following week. One occurence in particular, I decided to buy six snicker bars to last me about two weeks. Needless to say, I got carried away emailing all of my family/friends one Sunday afternoon and devoured all six in a row while sitting at the computer. This hurt more than ever, and snickers have never been the same for me. I mean, who does that? Seriously. I really have such a fat personality. Now I DO NOT eat and play on the computer at the same time. BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN... as evidenced by this empty cookie jar...
heh hem.

Although I have been hurt by many things in my life, including friends, family, food, falls, failures, etc. Nothing really hurts the way of losing someone you love dearly. My Grandma Shill passed away a little over one week ago. I was very fortunate to have grown up in the same home as Grandma, and she played a big role in my life. She was a part of our Christmas mornings, birthdays, movie watching, book reviews, meal planning and family vacations. I always thought that we were taking care of Grandma, but now that she is gone, I realize that she was really taking care of all of us. I am grateful for the time I had with her and for all of the memories that have accumulated over the years.
I already miss her love for me and all of my brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles. She loved her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and even great great grandchildren. It's been hard, because I know that nobody loved me like Grandma Shill loved me, and now she is gone. I know she loved us by the way she would hold us tight and listen to everything and anything we wanted to say. She sincerely appreciated us for the way we were.
She was a supportive wife, and never stopped loving my Grandpa. She would always tell me, "I hope that you and Jason can be as happy as Bob and I were." She taught me what mattered in life, something that is easy to forget in these modern days. She would say, "Nothing is ever really yours." Think about it; the material things you own or possess can be taken away from you. You can lose people, love, consistency, comfort and human rights. Appreciate the things that you do have, for the time that you have them. We should focus on the things that are of true value in life and fail to dwell on the rest. I'm still working on this one...
She was SO FUNNY. Grandma was sharp and had a quick wit. I especially loved watching her and my dad interact with one another. I already miss that. She was a wonderful story teller and 100% herself. We were all drawn to her.
I love it when the elderly folks tell me that I look like she did when she was younger...
One time I said, "Grandma, ya know some people think that I look like you did in your younger days. If that's true, then I am
definitely a shorter, stockier version, with a much smaller bra size."
Grandma replied with, "I'm afraid so dear..."
"Thanks."

I love you Grandma, and miss you already.