Miss Trellie

We know a sweet older lady whose name is Miss Trellie. We've known her for about 7 years. She was an integral part of our church in its early years, but has not been able to attend for the past few years due to health issues. We've made it a point to get over and visit Miss Trellie on a regular basis. Probably not as regular as we should have, but enough that 3 year old Sam called her "Granny Fudge" and was very pleased whenever he was told we were going to visit her.

Miss Trellie loved babies. She loved Sam when he was a baby and insisted on holding him whenever she could. She was so excited about Benjamin coming. In fact, she called Paul on his cell phone while we were still in the recovery room after he was born, thrilled that he was here. She told Paul to be sure and bring that baby over to see her.

We took Benjamin to see her when he was about 3 weeks old. She met us at the door and wouldn't let us in. She had been fighting a virus for a few days and was afraid of giving it to the baby. She did get a good look at the baby, and you could see how much she enjoyed just looking at a new baby. We told her we would be back so she could hold him.

Paul got the sad call a few days ago. Miss Trellie was in the hospital, eaten up with cancer. She was coming home with hospice, to die. Paul went to see her in the hospital, and when they told her he was there, her statement was, "I want to see that baby". He told her we'd bring the baby over when she got home.

Benjamin went to Miss Trellie's house tonight. Unfortunately, she did not realize he was there. She is dying, and was unable to (as far as we can tell) tell that he was there. It was so sad- I was fighting back tears the whole time, see her like this and realizing that she will never be able to hold him.

She was so excited about his birth that she persuaded one of her daughters to take her to the mall to buy him a gift. It is a silver train, a bank, that she was going to give him when she saw him. Her daughters gave it to Paul the other night and it will sit in a prominent place in his room. When he gets older, we will tell him the story of Miss Trellie and how she loved him.