My Heart Hurts

by Beth Schneider

After a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease and Leukemia my dear, sweet, loving Grandma passed away last month. My heart hurts. I miss her.

I inherited my head of big, curly hair from my Grandma. One of the things she loved was to brush it out and style it like she used to wear hers when she was my age. Even though I was never willing to go out in public with the ‘do she’d create, I always loved the process of sitting with her. It was our special time together, our “thing”. Even as an adult in my mid 30s I spent many hours sitting on the floor so my Grandma could style (and I use the word “style” very loosely) my hair.

If you’ve met me in person or heard me speak, you probably know how important family is to me. So when I got the call from Aunt that things were looking really bad and I’d better come over, I went. I feel very lucky and incredibly grateful to be in the type of business that allows me the freedom to be where I want to be, when I want to be there. In this case it was with my Grandma in her final days.

She was pretty out of it in her final days, but when I saw her open her eyes and sit up a bit, I put a hair brush in her hand and kneeled over her hospital bed for almost an hour so she could brush my hair. Later that night she slipped into an unconscious state and passed away about a day and half later. Turns out, brushing my hair was the last thing she would ever do.

A big part of the reason I was able to be with my Grandma was because my team stepped up, followed the systems we created and ran things without me. So while I was spending precious last moments with my Grandma, it was my team who cared for dozen of clients, prepared me for an out-of-town speaking engagement and finalized all the details of a major out-of-town tradeshow where I was exhibiting. They did it all because they knew what needed to be done and how to do it. And you can’t imagine how it feels to know that I got just one more Grandma hairdo.

Grandma, I love you.

Priscilla Rikess Siegel 1922 – 2007.

Here are my Grandma and I at her birthday dinner last year.. She always loved a good party.

© 2007 Beth Schneider.

Want to reprint this article? Feel free as long as you include the following: “Beth Schneider, Chief Infopreneur of Process Prodigy, is a business process consultant who helps solo-entrepreneurs, small business owners and network marketers who want to systemize their business to increase profits, increase productivity and grow their business without having to give up the family oriented, flexible, balanced lifestyle they desire. Beth works one-on-one with her clients, offers home study courses, and teleclass boot camps. For more information visit www.processprodigy.com and sign up for your FREE 5-Step Process Starter Kit and FREE Process Tips. Also, visit Process Prodigy’s family sites www.YourBusinessMachineBasics.com and www.MadeItToAMillion.com

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