The death of Grampa was my first big loss that I have ever experienced and selfishly so, I am very sad. It is like the Toby Keith song about Wayman Tisdale, "I'm not cryin' for you, I am cryin' for me." I know Grampa is in Heaven looking down on us and that he is in a much better place, but dangit! I miss him and I am cryin'. The last time I spoke to Grampa he told me that he just wanted to make it long enough to see my first child born. That is hard knowing that Chad and I were only such a short time away from presenting our first child to Grampa. But again, I know Grampa is watching and will have a front row seat to witness all that happens.
He has been one of the favorite people in my life for as long as I can remember. I loved visiting him, listening to his stories (he had so many!) and watching him laugh. I remember being a little scared of Grampa when I was little. He teased me too much and I wasn’t built to handle it at the time. As I got older, Grampa and I became buddies. I think he liked the spunkiness in me that would tease him right back and not let him get away with things. Plus, we got to tease Gramma a lot during the time I spent at their house and I think this helped keep him young.
At their farm during the summers, we would go fishing at the pond almost every night. When I was really little, Grampa would bait my hook for me. At this time, I didn't really understand the concept of fishing. I thought the more fish you caught, the better fisherman you were. I would just drop my line right off of the dock and catch every blue gill I could. Needless to say, Grampa was not always a happy camper when I was pestering him to bait my hook every few minutes. I was quickly required to bait my own hooks. At first, it was sooooo gross and I couldn't stand it. When I caught my first good sized bass on the hook that I baited myself, I was so proud and definitly made all the grossness worth it. Grampa kept the fish so we could have it for dinner the next night. Why didn't we have that bass for dinner that night? Well, I wanted to keep it as a pet, so my Grandparents allowed me to keep it in the bathtub that night. I don't recommend this, but they are my Grandparents and they probably weren't going to say no to my silly request (my parents definitely would have said no though).
Here is a picture of me and Grampa fishing:
My Grampa's stories about World War II were fascinating and I loved every single one of them. I think that is why I love learning about this period of our history so much. I am proud that Grampa served our country and I know that that was one of his defining characteristics. When he was stationed in India, Grampa and his buddies had a pet monkey named Jazbo. According to Grampa, Jazbo was pretty fond of the bottle. When the soldiers weren't looking, Jazbo would sneak into the whiskey stash and just get drunk, drunk, drunk. I have no idea what a monkey would like when it was inebriated, but I am sure it was a sight to see. Grampa took a lot of pictures during his time overseas and one of my favorite pictures is one of Grampa with Jazbo on his shoulder. They looked like they were partners in crime and couldn't have been happier. So many stories were shared and I wish I could write them all down now and hopefully someday I will, but I might get Grampa in trouble and we don't want that quite yet.
His funeral was a real honor to attend. The church was almost completely filled and it was amazing to see the folks that came to pay their respects to Gramma. We really got to see the number of lives Grampa touched. After the church service in Ashland, we traveled out to a cute church called Berea and that is Grampa's final resting place. You can see the farm, the place he loved most, from his gravesite and that is comforting to know he is close to the farm and his other family members that are also buried at Berea. At Grampa's burial site, the VFW and the American Legion were there to provide the military honor detail. They presented the United States flag to Gramma, a firing party performed the 3 volley salute and then Taps was played at the conclusion of the funeral. Military funerals are so touching and emotional. I am not quite sure if there was a dry eye around.
I couldn't have made it through last week without Chad, he was so great to me and my family. He drove me around, kept me calm, dished out free physical therapy advice to the family and always had the perfect things to say. My Gramma wants to adopt him, but that would then make him my uncle so I quickly dismissed that idea and just let her know that we will just keep him as a grandson instead. Families are a funny thing with the differing personalities and ways of living. If you have a friend or a spouse there to help you navigate through the intricacies of human relationships that is family, that is always a good thing and I am so thankful I have Chad. He is my husband as well as my best friend. Gramma and Grampa were married for 64 years and while you know they liked to tease each other (and sometimes too much), you know that they really loved one another. My grandparents definitely set the standard pretty high and I hope Chad and I can make to our 64th anniversary and still feel the love for one another that is somewhere close to the love my grandparents felt about each other.
I am so sorry to hear about your grandpa- you have written a wonderful story though and I am sure he is so proud of you.
ReplyDeleteLove, Cindy