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In the red is my mother Anne Jeffers, and in the plaid flannel is my Grandmother Virginia Jeffers. |
At the oval dining table a card game begins between my mother and grandmother. As a child I was curious. I wanted to know what they were playing, so I asked, “What are you playing?” My mother said, “Cribbage.” After she told me what she was playing I wanted to play with them. My grandmother said, “When your older I will teach you.” I could not wait to be older.
Once I was old enough my grandmother taught me Cribbage. It was the best moment ever. Now I could participate in the card games. I was thrilled.
This moment in time will forever be in my memory.
Virginia L. Jeffers born Dec. 19, 1935 in Sabeth, Kansas to Otto and Margaret Huiett. Jeffers attended Salem High School and graduated in 1953. She then studied beauty at Phagan's. After dropping out of beauty school she her first husband and had two children with him. Once divorcing him she married my grandfather William Jeffers and had two more children, Alan my uncle and Anne my mother. She worked for the state of Oregon as a secretary until she retired after 30 years. Jeffers passed away on May 8, 2009. She lived a full life and passed away 73 years young.
Courtesy of the hospital I am no longer able to create memories with my best friend, my grandmother. One minor error and misdiagnosis and she was gone.
This whole event happened within 11 hours. One minute she was talking to me and then next minute she was gone. It’s a memory that will always haunt me.
The day before I had been spending the afternoon with a friend. I mentioned a sleepover to my friend, so we went to my place which was with my grandmother. I came in a noticed that she was hunched over the counter crying. This was not like my grandmother.
I told my friend, “I don’t think I should go with you.”
That night changed my life forever.
I joined my grandmother out in the living room for a night of game shows.
She had a chair that she always sat in and watched her shows. I either sat in the other chair next to her or on the couch.
A few hours later my grandmother turned towards me and said, “If it will make you happy, I will go to the hospital.”
I said, “Yes it would.”
When her father passed away she was traumatized by the sound of the sirens, so she did not want the sirens on when the ambulance came to take her to the hospital.
I made the call to 911 and got everything together.
My grandmother told me not to tell my mother or my uncle. I did not dare question her reasoning. I just agreed not to tell anyone.
We spent the next four hours in the hospital waiting for the results from all the tests that she had to be subject to.
I can remember cracking jokes with my grandmother. There were other patients there and they were weird. We made little jokes about them to pass the time.
Everything was good to go. At 2 a.m. my grandmother was discharged from the hospital and was told to follow up with her cardiologist.
I called a cab to pick us up and take us home.
Later I found out that my grandmother was not okay to go home yet.
While waiting for the cab she was starting to have pains again, but she did not tell me.
Once we got home I decided to sleep on the couch. She said it was not necessary, but I felt better about being close to her.
Not too long after being home and sleeping on the couch my grandmother was awake. I woke up to her sitting at the desk. She could not sleep. She insisted that I go lay in my room. I was hesitant, but I did what she asked.
I did make one request. If you need me scream my name. I had her practice before I laid down.
A couple hours later I hear MELISSA!!!
I jumped out of bed and ran through the house to her aid. That was the moment I knew I could not do this myself anymore. I called my mother and she rushed to help.
I remember all the questions that the paramedics asked me. I had to answer all kinds of personal questions about my grandmother. It was no easy task.
I can still hear the fright in her voice. I can still feel the tension in the room. I can still smell the fresh morning as they wheel her into the back of the ambulance one last time.
We arrived at the hospital for one last visit. My mother goes to the lobby and I stay back to answer more questions. The nurses are asking me all sorts of questions, and all I wanted to do was be there for my grandmother.
As I stood there answering questions the nurses took my grandmother to her emergency room to check her in. The gurney zipped past me and I can still see her smile and the way she looked at me. She was wearing her pink plaid pajama top that I had got her for Christmas the previous year.
I smiled back and said, “Hey there sexy momma.”
Those were the last words I ever spoke to my grandmother.
I will never forget that day. The sun shined so bright, the trees were so green, and all around was peacefulness.
We all had a chance to say our goodbyes to her. I struggled back and forth whether to go back or not. I eventually did. I am glad that I did.
I walked into the room. There she was laying on the gurney. It did not seem real yet. I thought she was pulling a prank. She was always jokester. It was real.
I leaned over and kissed her forehead and whispered in her ears, “I will see you again someday, I love you.”
LaWanda Jeffers said, “You’re grandmother loved her family and would have done anything for them.”
This quote is very true about my grandmother. She would do whatever she could to help anyone out.
Later that day the family gathered at her house and we did not mourn, we celebrated her life. We had a barbecue in her honor.
Anne Jeffers said, “I remember everything about my mother.”
Everyone could not believe this had happened. Someone, somewhere made huge mistake that cost my grandmother her life.
My mother said, “I think if they would have done better testing on her she would still be alive.”
My aunt LaWanda Jeffers said, “
The cycle of life is never ending and is painful, but it is up to us to make the best out of the days we have together and never let go of our memories. We need to keep our loved ones close, so that it feels like they never left at all.
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