It started with a life, manifested in a death.

I can't believe it has been four years since my grandpa died.  I wanted to share a part of my journal that sums up what July 19 means to me now and forever.  Maybe, it was mostly important for me to type it out and revisit each word.  It isn't even really about my grandpa dying.  It is just to mark and celebrate 4 years of post experience learning.

I still remember being in Italy and debating when it was time to go home and say goodbye to him.  I woke up one day knowing.  I went home and remembered the promise I had made to myself when I spent hours with a 99 year old woman named Helen.  I told myself if I ever got the chance, I would take care of my grandparents in this same way.  I got to take care of him for a few weeks; about 1 1/2 months.  One promise usually leads to another.

July 19, 2012
Exactly one year ago today, at 7:30 p.m. LaVerle M. Bingham died in his home, in his bed.  He died the way he probably dreamed of dying, surrounded by family with all of his living children present.  I saw him die.  The air was still in the last few moments of his life.  It was quiet.  we all listened to his gasps that began after my grandmother had whispered at his bedside, "I will be all right."  After weeks of taking care of him, I watched him let out one final breath, and with it his spirit.  I looked at the frame of him.  Curled in the fetal position and on his side, he laid in his final resting form.  His mouth was open with his jaw slackened crookedly.  It was a Tuesday.  

That was a moment that changed my life.  As I contemplated it over the next hours I came to understand that it was the greatest lesson my grandpa could teach me.  His lesson, taught by his life and presented by his death was that all the blessings of the heavens and the earth were actually attainable.  I know this because I believe he succeeded in attaining them.  He was a simple farmer, a social butterfly, a father.  HE watched movies and got grumpy.  He has some of the worst penmanship I had ever seen.  He was an average guy.  But I believe now he is becoming a god.  This event that caused me to understand is now one of the most significant in my life.  

Today is a Thursday.  Today I went through the Twin Falls temple to become endowed with power from on high.  I wear the symbolic garment of the priesthood as I will do for the remainder of my life.  The beauty of ancient rituals, symbols, covenants, and truths alleviate my need to understand them today.  It was an eternally important day for me.  I chose the day my grandpa died because I wanted to sanctify the day he taught me the greatest lesson.  I didn't want to remember his passing with sorrow, for it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life.  It seems so natural to me to celebrate that in the temple.  

Love,
Megan