RIP Grandma Pierce!

Tonight, around 9 PM, my Grandma Pierce passed away after dodging Death's scythe for many years. In fact, she stopped eating last Wednesday and went into some sort of coma state, though she could still hear us. My dad (her only son and first child) and I went down to see her on Saturday. She was having heavy breathing followed by periods of no breath for about twenty seconds or so. I grasped her hand and said, "Grandma, it's David. Me and my dad came to visit." Her breathing immediately went to a slow rhythm. I had watched my Grandma Slack pass away and the way Grandma Pierce was breathing was the same way. I was sure we would witness her death, especially since the nurses said it would be within the next twelve hours.

However, Saturday came and went, Sunday came and went, and today I had resigned myself to the fact that maybe she was again going to pull through.

Today I received the Complete Series of M*A*S*H on DVD. That series is a Pierce family favorite. In fact, every time I think of it I think of being down at Grandma's, getting ready for bed in our sleeping bags on the living room floor (us kids were too scared to sleep down stairs in the basement), and the adults getting ready to watch the show right after the 10 o'clock news. Everyone laughed and it was cool that the main character, Captain 'Hawkeye' Pierce, shared our name and looked like my dad. Anyway, my cousin Tracey from that side of the family, who is also my roommate, and I were watching the extras discs from the set when she passed. How fitting.

It's also a full moon which I think is great.

I'm so glad she's not suffering anymore. I felt bad that I didn't go to see her more often. I would usually go once per season because it was such a long drive, and then just really depressing when you'd get there because she was so miserable.

I lived with her while going to college and we had many discussions, laughed some, argued some, and just had nice time. I felt a special bond with her as she loved to paint and so did I.

While I was on my mission about three months in, I woke up horribly ill with a splitting headache and quite nauceous. In fact, I fell into a coma and awoke in the evening thinking it was still morning. As I lay in bed not able to get up because my head hurt so bad, the phone rang. My companion answered and said, "No ma'am, there is no Pamela Reddington here." !!!!! Pamela is my cousin so I told him to give me the phone. When I got on, it was Grandma!! Nobody had my phone number as I wasn't allowed to call home. She was quite surprised and said she didn't know how she got my number. I told I was glad because I was feeling so sick, which made me homesick so we spoke for awhile. She was glad to speak to me. She also wrote me quite often, which I greatly appreciated.

Grandpa Pierce has been dead 20 years this Thanksgiving so it's about time she joined him.

All though I am sad, I'm more grateful and happy that she won't suffer anymore, that she'll finally be with Grandpa again, that she'll get to see her parents whom she lost when she was just a teen or younger, and her younger sister who died when she was quite young. I know I'll see her again and I'm so thankful for the testimony I have of eternal life and that the Savior, Jesus Christ, has made it possible for all of us to be with our loved ones again throughout Eternity.