Blog: The importance of creating memories (05/02/22)

Death is part of life. It’s as safe as breathing. And whether or not you believe in an afterlife (which I do), it is equally certain that when someone dies, we will never see them again in this lifetime.

I remembered this just a few days ago when my grandmother passed away after a long hard battle with cancer.

For those of you who didn’t know my grandmother, she was the toughest woman I’ve ever known. The truth is, I think there was a little part of me that thought until the end that she was going to do like Chuck Norris and kick death round in the face. She was so tough.

But after having my grandmother in my life for 48 years, I have only so many memories left. And that’s what I want to talk about a bit.

When we lose a loved one, be it a family member, friend, or anyone, those memories can be a source of great comfort. I know they have been mine for the past few days.

When I lost my grandfather in 2010, one of my biggest regrets was that I didn’t have as many memories together as I would have liked. Pop’s passing made my grandmother my only remaining grandparent, and I told myself at the time that I didn’t want to have that regret with her.

Even though I’ve lived away from southeast Missouri for much of the past 12 years, my grandmother and I have still been able to do a lot of memorable things together.

In 2016 I took her to visit Memphis for the first time in her life and also took her to a Caribbean themed restaurant called Bahama Breeze. Four years later, we took a road trip to Muscle Shoals, passed by the legendary recording studio there, and also visited the campus of the University of North Alabama, where we got to see live lions that served as mascots at the university.

Although I’m not a huge Lynyrd Skynyrd fan (and neither is my grandmother), we were both playing Sweet Home Alabama when we crossed the Tennessee-Alabama border into the state. .

Last January, I took her to Olive Garden in Cape Girardeau for the first time in her life. Even though we ended up eating our meal in the parking lot due to the pandemic, it was still Olive Garden.

As my grandmother often said, I said all that to be able to say all that. Never pass up an opportunity to make memories with your family and friends, because one day that’s all we’ll have left of them. And when that day comes, we’ll need those memories to get through this.

Mike Buhler is an editor for the Daily American Republic. Contact him at mbuhler.dar@gmail.com.