Lillian Travis: A Testimony to Love

Last Tuesday night, at the age of 97, my Great-Grandmother passed away peacefully. She is pictured above in the blue dress 1st with all the Women and children on that side of the family, and then 2nd with my Granny, my mother, myself, and my first daughter about a year and a half ago.

I cannot describe the emptiness that I feel in my heart, but any of you who have experienced the death of a loved one in your lifetime knows what I am talking about. It is a feeling of emptiness, of loneliness, because that loved one is no longer present on this earth. I feel deep gratitude to my Father and Creator for blessing me with a living Great-Grandmother for all these years. She was a bright, baby-blue eyed woman with a fiery sense of humor, a peaceful whit, and a knack for winning Canasta. When I was a small child, I played many a game of checkers with her. "I CHALLENGE you to a game of Checkers, Jessica," she would say. "I'm going to CLOBBER you!" I have three gifts that she gave me when I was a child. My room was the designated guest room when she would visit my family, and she never left without a gift of gratitude on a nicely made and pressed bed spread. The first that she left me was a hard-cover classic version of Anne of Green Gables, and the second was the book Kim. One time she left me a tiny pin cushion outlined with lace. I still have all these things today, and am saving them for my daughters someday.

Great-Granny was a peaceful woman, and I would often catch her sitting quietly on the couch starring out the window, as if to reflect on life and love. And I could tell that nothing gave her greater joy in her old age than to sit and observe, as if a fly on the wall, her great-grand children's children playing nearby. She was a contemplative woman. Once she said to me that she loved when her flight would be delayed. When I shot her a quizzical look, wondering why anyone would be happy about a flight being delayed, she explained, "Haven't you ever just people watched? I just love to people watch. The Airport is the best place for that. I just sit and wonder where each one is going, what their story is, and who they are."

And I cannot conclude without mentioning the laughing attacks that I know she passed to my mother's mother, my mother, her sisters, and myself. When something tickled her humor just the right way, she would laugh, deeply, breathlessly, eyes welling up with tears of emmense and uncontrollable laughter- even if no one else was laughing! We call it the laughing attack. It is contagious, but it can only come from a soul that is deeply rooted in a love for life.

But above all the checkers and card games, above all the peaceful chats, above the little gifts she left for me, and the laughing attacks, I will always remember the love she had in her eyes for each family member. Her blue eyes had a depth to them. A depth that spoke without words. I am reminded of something that St. Francis of Assisi once said: "Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary use words."

This, my friends, is what it means to testify to love. Sure, some of it has to do with what words we say, but that's not the bottom line. It has to be in our heart. And if love is truly in our hearts, then words will rarely be necessary.

These are my thoughts for today, as I pack my bags to visit my Great-Grandmother's home one last time, and to show my respect and gratitude to God for her long and fruitful life.

Lord, may the soul of your faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace...and may we always remember that we are walking testimonies of your love in all that we think, in all that we say, and in all that we do, and may I grow to live, to laugh, and to love as deeply as Lillian Travis did. Amen.