Timothy Jordan

Storer
English 3H Block 5
21 March 2020
My Grandma
Katherine Suchla carried her large, red rosary. Ever since she was a little girl, she carried this
rosary wherever she went. She always brought it whenever I had a surgery and we would say a few
quick prayers before I went under. She carried it every day of her life, until she passed it on to me in
late 2016 during a Christmas visit to Racine, Wisconsin. It was a symbol of the faith which she had
tried so immensely to instill in her children and
grandchildren. Now, whenever I travel, I bring that
same rosary. When I’m home, this sacred, red rosary
hangs on my bulletin board where I can see it every
day when I wake up.
She carried a plain deck of playing cards. She
would never miss an opportunity to get the family at
the kitchen table for a quick game of cribbage at 10
PM or a family game of golf (the card game) at family
reunions. She knew this deck of cards would bring the family together and the simple thought of that
would bring a smile to her face. However, she always relished the feeling of winning the games.
She carried an orange container of pills in her purse. For many years, she has had to have
medications to keep her alive. She has survived two strokes, lung damage from years of smoking,
and still finds the strength to go on and care for many others. These pills are reminders of the regrets
and struggles of her life. However, she is often adamant that she takes care of her own health and not
have her kids and grandkids do it for her. She takes up her cross in life and still manages to help hold
up others too.
She carried her anxieties for her family. She always worked hard to provide for the rest of the
family. For over thirty years of her life, she worked as a night nurse, suffering through some of the
hardest tasks of the crafts all for the benefit of her four kids and husband Germane. In the mornings,
she’d care for the kids, cook, and clean just to keep the family afloat.
She carried an addiction. She had suffered from chronic addiction to smoking for many years.
The damage to her lungs, she knew, would eventually come back to get her. She hid herself from her
family in shame, despite the knowledge that everyone knew. She did not hold this forever though, as
declining health and support from family pressured her to stop.
She carried unwavering love and faith. Above all else she worked to let her family know that
both her and God loved them. She instilled the values of the Church in her children and subsequent
grandchildren and never passed up an opportunity to bring the family together for a Christmas mass
celebration. Above all, she loved and cared for the family and brought them all together.
She took all her crosses, held them up, and carried them everywhere she went. It was all for
love, and all for family.