I recently had to unexpectedly come back home for my Nana’s funeral. Now, there are probably plenty of Nana’s out there, but there is only one TRUE Nana… My Nana, Nana Banana!
Nana was a woman full of love, music and always had that twinkle in those blue eyes of hers! She has always had a pep in her step and a song in her heart. Nana was a mother, a teacher, a grandmother, a great grandmother… She was the epitome of a true matriarch…. The foundation of our family. However, it is hard to talk about Nana without Pops…
They were a perfect match… what you would call soul mates. Pops told me once that he fell in love with Nana the moment he laid eyes on her walking down the street and I don’t think that spark ever dulled. They showed all those around them how to treat others with respect through their actions and their attitudes. They were a glass half full, silver lining in the storm cloud kind of couple and I strive everyday to be like them. When Pops passed away my senior year of high school, you could tell that a piece of Nana died as well, but she told me that Pops had told her once, “Sugar, when I am gone you have to go on… live your life… I will see you again before you know it!” And you know what… she did! She lived a full life those 11 years without Pops and she even got a little lively at times, too! Pops was a big personality and I never realized how funny Nana was until after he passed away. We Mueller’s have gotten a few family lines from Nana like… “it’s gettin’ long like a dead pig”. She was great with one-liners, for example… I was holding my niece Hayden when she was just a year or so old and she proceeded to reach her hand down my shirt and grab my chest… I pulled her hand out and looked at my mom, nana and sister and said, “she just grabbed my boob”… to which nana replied “I am surprised she could even find it!” She was quite a character. The last few years my Aunts have insisted that she use a cane for comfort and support… well, damn it, Nana didn’t want to…. She made sure she had it when family was around, but she confessed to me and Jon that she didn’t use it all the time at her retirement community. Of course she was smart and funny enough to inform her friends that, “if I fall, make sure one of you goes and grabs my cane and throw it on the ground next to me before my girls get here!”
Ruth Elizabeth Froehner died at 96 and was still as quick as a whip until the last few weeks. She was the most loving, generous, caring and gentle person I have ever known. Of course I am upset that I will not have my Nana on this earth to talk to and get wisdom from, but it is hard to be sad when you look at the life she lived and the love she shared with all of us. I am the youngest of all the grandkids and I got to have my Nana in my life for almost 30 years… I think that is pretty awesome! And I know that my Pops was up there at those pearly gates with his arms stretched wide open waiting for his love, singing Oh Happy Day with a chorus of angels behind him!
Until Later…
