Legacy

Today, a cousin of mine posted this picture on Facebook:

  This is a picture of my maternal grandparents' tombstone.  When I was a little girl, we would go visit the cemetery often, whenever we were in the area.  I remember being slightly bothered by cemeteries, but death is a part of life, and I'm thankful that my parents didn't shield us kids from funerals and cemeteries and the reality of death.

I haven't been to Grandpa and Grandma Wolf's graveside in so long now...it was very nice to see the picture, to see the upkeep of the place, the beauty of the stone that remains.  My cousin thought my mom would like to see it....she was right, of course.

There is such history here.  My grandpa, Omer D. Wolf, was the brother of Walter O. Wolf.  My grandma, Silva Fern, was the sister of Clara Ada.  So two brothers married two sisters.  And when that happens, the children are known as "double cousins".  So my mother, who is an only child, had six double cousins who were boys.  Grandma and Grandpa had my mom; Uncle Walt and Aunt Ada had six sons.  Mom was very close to her cousins; they were like brothers to her.

I have always thought that naming a daughter after my grandmother would be nice.  After all, Grandma Wolf was my only living grandparent when I was born, and she only lived until I was a little over a year old.  My very first memory is about 10 seconds long, but it is very clearly seared in my brain:  viewing her body at the funeral home.  I'm so thankful for this brief memory because it is all that I personally have of her.

I love her middle name:  Fern.  Hoffbeast has not been so keen on it, but I think it's a lovely middle name.  As for her first name, well.....funny story.  Until I saw this picture, I thought her name was spelled "Sylvia" since that's what everyone called her.  Turns out that her father had spelled "Sylvia" without an "i" on her birth certificate, so that's how she wanted it spelled on her tombstone.

She obviously appreciated grammatical and spelling consistency.

I knew I got it from somewhere.  :)

Sylva Fern still has yet to have a Hoffchild named after her, but this past year, Omer David got his namesakes.....our twins are Boaz David Washington and Jonathan Omer Lincoln.

I wish I had known them, as well as my great aunt and uncle, but I'm so thankful they all knew Jesus.  I look forward to spending eternity getting to know the men and women who raised such amazing children in my mom and her double cousins.  My mom is truly my hero...and I know that her mother and daddy would be so proud of the woman--the wife, the mother, and the grandmother--that she has become.

I love you, Mama!