This past week my grandma passed away. She was 91, so it really was a blessing that she was able to leave her earthly body, as she had suffered multiple strokes in her last several years of life. When I was a sophomore in high school she had her first major one — that was almost 17 years ago. It’s been over half of my life that she had been dealing with the after effects and sadly I feel like I mourned the grandma I knew as a child a long time ago.

I spent so many Sundays at their house after church where she would make me decaf coffee and throw in a scoop of ice cream. I would eat...