A grandchild's perspective - Baylor Tyrie

Hi Uncle Ernie! 

I hope all is well, I just read through the sheila stories page and loved getting to remember her in the incredible stories that you wrote. I've been thinking all week about my favorite story to send you and for some reason none of the stories I come up with seem to do justice to how much I love her and how much she meant to our family. I wanted to write to you, none the less, because even though i don’t think anything I can put in words expresses how utterly amazing Poppy is, I still have so many amazing things to say about her and how she impacted my life. 

Since long before I can remember Gramma has been the only one who has actually enjoyed doing puzzles with me. When I was younger, she would sit and help me put together the “jumbo 20 piece puzzles” made for kids and pretend they were challenging just so that I thought I was accomplishing some huge task when we clicked the last piece in. As I got older, we would sit together at the Nantucket table putting together real, challenging puzzles everyday. She always insisted that we began by laying out all of the pieces and flipping them over so that we knew what we were working with. Then, we’d put together the edge pieces until the boarder was complete. Some of my favorite memories with Poppy are the conversations I had with her sitting around the puzzle, for hours on end, working together at the seemingly unimportant task of putting together a set of pieces in a very specific manner. At this point it probably seems like I’ve talked way too long about just putting together a puzzle. But as I’ve had time this week to remember Poppy and be thankful for the blessing she was In my life, I realized that, to me, it wasn’t just a puzzle. 

Gramma taught me that every day, every person, and every place is a piece to the “puzzle" that represents our life. As we go about our day to day business, we place pieces into our puzzle. These pieces may be new friends, new adventures, or even new new knowledge. Like Gramma always knew, we started with the edges first: our God given personalities and all the things that we learned growing up about how to be a good person and a caring friend. Those are the guidelines to who we are: the boarder. but everyday brings new pieces that can change the picture on the inside. 

Poppy is one of the most positive people I have ever known. She has been through some of the most difficult things that I can imagine, and always come out the other side whistling happy songs (even though for most of the time I don’t really think she even knew how to whistle - more of blowing air loudly) and spreading her unending love. My favorite example of her positive attitude and support for all of us was when I was applying to transfer schools for this year. When it came time to hear back from schools she asked me to call her when I heard back from each school. As I reported back to her with my news she insisted that I was “batting 100” (which I was not). I would tell her “No, Poppy, I haven’t gotten into all the schools I applied to” and she would smile (a smile I could hear over the phone) and shed say, “Oh, Baylor, it doesn’t matter! You’ve still gotten into them all!” and I’d laugh and no matter how much I told her I didn’t have a perfect acceptance record, she told everyone that I did. 

Her support and love filled everyone’s puzzles with some of the most important pieces. I think I can speak for more than just myself when I say that. Poppy's life puzzle is now complete. She accomplished everything that she had to do in her lifetime (a stunning lifetime at that) and the last piece of her puzzle fell into place. She left behind a magnificent completed picture for all of us to look up to and strive for, and she filled each of our own puzzles with pieces that we will forever hold with us. I know that there is a section in my heart, in my “puzzle of life” that is dedicated to Gramma and all that she has taught me and shared with me. These beautiful pieces will always be a part of my story, and Poppy will always be with me everywhere I go. As I go through my life and leave my mark on the people around me, I hope that the pieces I give to them shine with the brightness and love of those that Poppy left for all of us. I feel so lucky to have been her granddaughter, because she filled my life with puzzle pieces, real and metaphorical, that I will hold onto forever.

I love you Poppy.