Going Home to Glory

On January 30, 2007 Janette Ridely, Tamila's grandmother, passed away after battling respiratory ailments for the past two months. She had finally succumbed to cardio-pulmonary failure at the age of 76 years old.


Of course Tami and her mom, Shirley (Mom), took it hard. We all hoped Ms. Ridley would get better, as her doctors stated they were hopeful she would be able to go home soon. But her ailments were too much for her to overcome. This all started one day back in the middle of October. Ms. Ridley started having problems breathing, and Mom had to take her to the hospital. She was initially in the hospital for about 5 weeks, as she had a shunt put into her esophagus to help her breath, and overcome what the doctors believed to be a generalized respiratory infection. It was hard for the doctors to determine exactly what type of infection she had, because her ailment was further complicated by the fact she smoked up until the day she went into the hospital in October.


Ms. Ridley had been a life long smoker, so it was hard to determine exactly whether she had pneumonia, bronchiolitis, bronchitis, pulmonary hypertension, or a generalized Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, of which emphysema and chronic bronchitis are grouped. All of these illnesses have some overlap of the same symptoms. Since Ms. Ridley had been a smoker all of her life, she probably suffered from a severe form of a Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, which basically destroys the air sacs in the lungs, causing shortness of breath and wheezing as the body struggles to absorb air. Ms. Ridley was also a diabetic, and suffered from imbalanced insulin levels in the week before her passing. I am sure it was the combination of these two ailments that overwhelmed her body.


Now on a personal level, Ms. Ridley was the typical grandmother and great-grandmother. I had been told she battled all kinds of adversity as a young lady, but she managed to raise two high-quality, loving young ladies in my mother-in-law Shirley and her late sister Gwen. Ms. Ridley had also been feisty as a younger woman, but she had really mellowed out when she got older. She was a little eccentric, but she was always personable. I always told Tam Ms. Ridley was as tough as iron, and that if someone dropped a nuclear bomb, the only person that would survive would be Ms. Ridley. She was literally unbreakable or unbendable, and was quite set in her ways. After living a life of adversity, she had conquered everything. In the end, God took mercy on her and relieved her of her failing earthly body. He called her Home to be with "He who knew thee as she was being formed in the womb".


She was always sweet to me, and always made an effort to speak to me whenever I went over my mother-in-law's house, even if she had to holler down the stairs from her bedroom as I came into the front door. She loved my wife Tam and her sister, Tameka. She simply adored her great-grand kids ((Tam and I kids Olan (4) and Cassidy (2), and Tameka and Antoine's kids Aniyah (4) and Isaiah (2)). In the year before Ms. Ridley passed away, my mother-in-law had kept Cassidy during the day. It was during this time Cassidy and Ms. Ridley became running buddies. I would usually get to Mom's house when Ms. Ridley was eating breakfast, and Cassidy would run over to the table next to Mr. Ridley and snatch one of her biscuits. Ms. Ridley always had bisuits and grits for breakfast. Ms. Ridley would often feed Cassidy out of her plate, which was a miracle in itself since Mr. Ridley did not mess around when it came to her food. Her name for Olan was "Sweet Boy", and it would bother her if Tam or I had to discipline Olan when he misbehaved. The great-grand kids loved her, and Ms. Ridley ate it up.


Although Tam and I worked, and she was on a fixed income, Ms. Ridley would sometimes give us money. She would also give me money to tithe at our church, even though she was not a member. I never saw her laugh as much as when the kids were around her. She had mellowed out to the point where she would hang out with the kids , watch TV, and nap through out the day. Tam told me the day Ms. Ridley left the house to go to the hospital back in October, Cassidy cried and went upstairs to Ms. Ridley's room and sat on her bed. Tam had to go up there to calm her down. Cassidy was really upset Ms. Ridley was leaving the house. The two of them had really become that tight.

Christmas morning, Tam, myself, and the kids went to see Ms. Ridley at the geriatric hospital she was at. It was the last time we saw her before she passed away. We sat with her for about half an hour, and decided to leave because she was tired. Before we left, the kids gave her kisses. I'm glad she lived to long enough to spend time with her great-grand kids. They gave her a lot of joy.

Here is to you Ms. Ridley. We will miss you and long for the day when we all fellowship with you again, as that will be when we all are in the Presence of The Lord in Heaven. Rest well, you have earned it.