I took this picture of my grandmother a few years ago. She was lonely, but didn't want to move out of her home. Today I received word that she might not be with us much longer as she has stopped eating or drinking. She is 94. I have never known life without a grand-parent. I had 4 when I was born and grew into adulthood. I remember clearly 5 great-grandparents. Nearly all lived into their 90's.
This is one of two favorite photographs I have of my grandmother. She was a pretty guarded person who only revealed what she wanted to reveal to others. This moment she didn't know I was going to take a picture and it was pretty real emotion. Real sadness. She loved her husband very much and missed him deeply every single day of the rest of her life.
The other picture, which I couldn't find off hand was a picture I took about two( turns out it was 4) years ago of my grandmother standing on her deck watching me leave. She always liked to stand and wave as the cars went down the driveway. We would then toot the horn as we drove away.
I've been thinking a lot about her tonight. Photograph by Richard Sayer