I want to thank everyone who has helped us mourn and everyone who helped make this eulogy possible. Grandma Mary Ellen Racel: you will be missed.
All week long I’ve had this prayer repeated over in my head from the Book of Matthew: Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Especially during the final weeks of my grandmother’s life, I felt more and more powerfully that every day we had with her was a miracle. It was a miracle when she survived the Colombian Revolution. It was a miracle when she survived the medically difficult birth of her final child. It was a miracle when she survived breast cancer. And it was a miracle that she survived a month after being diagnosed with Stage 4B Pancreatic Cancer. Maybe that’s why she always seemed to live life to the fullest, even during the times when she sometimes had to live vicariously through others.
I’ve met very few people who knew my grandmother and didn’t think of her as one of their best friends. And why not? A best friend:
- Shares your joys and sorrows, always being able to lift you up when you’re down.
- Holds your hand and sits quietly to listen when you need council.
- Takes care of the needs that maybe you didn’t know that you had.
My grandmother took care of everyone around her, even strangers. We can all tell many stories of her charity and good will. One I’d like to share comes from my sister, Melissa. They were once standing in line at the DMV behind a young woman who came there to pay a ticket. She couldn’t pay it in full, and the DMV was going to suspend her driver’s license until the complete debt was paid. However, the young woman argued, she needed to drive to work in order to make money to pay the ticket. Around and around it went until our grandmother stepped forward and offered to pay the debt. The shocked young woman asked why and Grandma responded, “because I used to be young and broke and I remember what it was like.” Grandma finished the conversation with, “Don’t worry about paying me back, just pay it forward by helping someone else.”
Yes, she taught by example, but she also taught by songs, rhymes, anecdotes, and old sayings. “Give me a hug” taught me that we are a hugging family. “Good morning” taught me to great every day with optimism. “You have to love people the way that they are and not the way they are not, even if they change” taught me unconditional love and patience.
Its a great tragedy that the world has lost a woman who did so much kindness. However, the greater tragedy would be if we forget to pay forward the kindnesses that have been charitably given to us by a woman whose life was a miracle.