I have been fortunate to have all four of my grandparents throughout my life. That also makes the loss that much harder.. Grandpa has actually been sick my whole life, but I don’t want to dwell on that, because that’s not how I saw him.
When I was a little girl, my grandparents lived out in the country on a beautiful piece of land with a pond, hiking trails, and a garden. To a kid, it was paradise. I will always remember my grandpa as being on his tractor, or in his woodshop. Some of my best memories were out in the country. It was there that Grandpa taught me to shoot a gun (BB gun, of course), there that we “helped” him with the garden, there that he set up a tire swing for us, and there that he took us out to “Powers Canyon”. He loved being in the country, but even more, he loved sharing the country with the people he loved.
That’s the kind of guy he was. He loved his family and friends, and thrived on entertaining people. You knew when you went to his house that he was going to try to shake your hand, then pull his hand away. Or that he was going to tell a bunch of corny jokes. But you would laugh, no matter how many times you’d heard them, because of the enthusiasm with which he told the joke. You couldn’t help it.
If you dared to bring up politics or religion, you better not have anywhere to go. Grandpa watched the news all the time, and knew exactly what he believed and why (for both politics and religion). That being said, if you presented a view that was the same as his, he would take the other side and argue it perfectly, just to be the devil’s advocate. Of course, I knew that if he started proclaiming his love for Obama, he was lying. But sometime, he could really have you convinced he believed the opposite, at least until you saw the twinkle in his eye and heard his booming laugh, as he realized he’d gotten another one.
I can see a lot of my Grandpa’s different traits in my dad and uncles, and even in us, the grandkids. The sense of humor, the stubbornness, the talkativeness, the hard-working attitude. But the one that had the biggest impact on my entire family was his heart. I don’t mean his physical heart, because it was very sick. But for what his physical heart was lacking, he made up for in spiritual heart. He really loved people. He loved my grandma so very much. They have been married almost 53 years, and seem more in love all the time, which doesn’t happen much anymore. He loved his sons, and was so proud of them. He loved everyone in the family, and seemed to have a special relationship with everyone. But he loved God first and foremost, and didn’t mind telling everyone he met. I have never known someone who talked so easily about going to heaven. He knew he was going there, and so did everyone else. That’s one of the things that has comforted us in the last week. He’s finally where he wanted to be for so long. He’s free of pain and now has a fully-functioning body. It feels a bit selfish to want him to still be here.
Sometimes, when something like this happens, we think first of ourselves. I hadn’t gotten to see Grandpa yet since returning to the US, and Alessandro had never met him. This was of course one of my first thoughts. I thought somehow that if they had met, it would make Grandpa happy enough to pull through his current battle. But now I realize that the current battle was just one of many, and more than just being ready, he wanted to go. I will miss him so very much, but he will live on. He lived his life in a way that created a legacy; through his sons, through his interactions, and through his faith. Alessandro may not have met him, but he will hear about him. Maybe we’ll start with the story of Baby Check-up...
Ciao for now,
Kathleen
No comments:
Post a Comment