Three Heavenly Angels

Three heavenly angels are watching over Barbara Sue Jordan. A woman who is strong, supportive, and my grandmother. Within the last 16 years, she has lost my grandfather, my step-grandfather, and my uncle.

“My motto would be to tell people you love them everyday and to live life fully.” When you look at my grandmother, you would have no idea how much she has been through in her lifetime. No matter what, she keeps a smile on her face, her arms open for a needed hug and she always has a joke ready to lighten up the hard times.

My grand-mommy got married twice. However, the love of her life, Leland Jordan was like her best friend. To me, I referred to him as Papa. She told me how they were always together, they understood one another and he really showed her what true love was. My papa passed away suddenly from cancer. “I felt lonely,” my grandmother expressed to me. She had to get use to life without her best friend physically with her all the time. This sudden death broke my grandmother, she didn’t know how to move on without him. But, like the true soldier she is she pushed forward and continued on with life because that’s what my papa would’ve wanted her to do.

My grandpa was one of a kind. He was very supportive of his grandchildren and was the funniest man to me as a kid. Together my grandpa and my grand-mommy had four kids. “When I was a little girl, I use to roll my dolls up on either side of me and pretend like we were in church. So, I always wanted a family, I wanted children. I wanted about six children, but it didn’t work that way I have four. And I am very proud of them, very proud of them.” My grandmother explained to me that her biggest accomplishments have been her children, and because of my grandpa that was possible. In 2009, suddenly my mom received a call in the middle of the night saying my grandpa passed away. My grandmother would soon wake up the next morning with a call from my mother saying her first husband and the father of her kids was pronounced dead. She cried. Around her kids, she wanted to be strong but she loved my grandfather no matter what. This death came as a shock. But we know that we wouldn’t have been able to get through it without my grandmother. Despite the feelings she may have been going through with his passing, she was strong for everyone else.

“The hardest challenge of my life was really losing my son. That was the deepest feeling because he was such a young man, really getting started. Well, not really getting started but a good stern man. So, that was the hardest, but at the same time it’s hard to lose your loved ones.” November 11th 2018, my grandmother and her second oldest son went to go visit her eldest son like they did every Sunday. But this time, their visit meant so much more than usual. My uncle Robert, my grandmother’s oldest son was battling stage-four cancer for five years. On November 12th, my uncle Robert’s wife woke up to his eyes open and he was still. My uncle was pronounced dead. My grandmother would’ve never expected the day before was going to be the last time she’d be able to talk to her son. Of course, my uncle was sick but no one was ready for him to pass away. None of us wanted him to leave us. His spirit was one of the best, his humor was the funniest, and his cooking was unmatched. My grandmother had to face the fact that her son lost his battle, just like her late husband. She was and is still saddened. However, she pushes through. She believes that God put my uncle on this earth so that he could make an impact in all of our lives, but now God needed him. My grandmother is such a strong woman who continues to remind us that no matter how sad this makes us, my uncle is not in pain anymore.

My grandmother is special, not only to me but to her whole family. She is such a strong woman who always sees the light at the end of each tunnel. “And losing loved ones has taught me to love people and express your love to them each and everyday because life is not promised to any of us. We don’t know when we’re going to leave here or how long we’re gonna be here, but it’s the biggest thing.” A strong, supportive woman who lost three of the most important men in her life. But Barbara Sue Jordan, my grandmother, has also gained three heavenly angels who love and watch over her everyday.

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