This past Monday my grandfather passed away. He would have been 81 in January. He had prostate cancer and it spread into his bones making it very painful for him. His bones became very brittle and just started breaking everywhere. While he had been going down hill quickly for the past few months and we were expecting it, hearing the news on Monday still made me sad for awhile. Then I began to think of all the things I am grateful for and I felt at peace.
Here's my list(I wanted to remember this for later):
1. First and foremost I am grateful for the Plan of Salvation and the great blessings of eternal families. It makes me happy knowing that he has been reunited with my grandma and my uncle who he watched lose their battle to cancer many, many years ago. I'm grateful that someday we will all see each other again.
2. I'm grateful the family was able to have one last family reunion last year for his 80th birthday celebration. No one knew he was sick and everyone showed up. He said it was one of the happiest days of his life.
3. I got to go with my family this past 24th of July and see him one last time when he was still himself.
4. I'm also grateful I was able to finish his birthday scrapbook for him before he passed. He was able to look at all the pictures of his family while he was sick and bedridden.
5. My mom and her two sisters were able to be with him for a full week before he died. They all got to take care of him and be at his side. He was shown so much love and was so grateful they were there with him. For those of you who know my mom, this was a HUGE blessing for her to get to do this!
6. Lastly, I'm grateful he is out of pain.
Although we never lived near my grandpa I still have very fond memories of him and will always hold onto them. One of the things I will miss the most his is sense of humor. He was a farmer and got his left ring finger cut off by a farm machine a long, long time ago. I will always laugh about his sense of humor with this. He would always say, "Give me four", and hold his hand up. And just recently when his cows went missing and he was able to gather all but one of them, he held up that hand again and said, "I always come up one short"! I LOVED his sense of humor!
This is at my wedding in November 2004. 
This is him at his 80th birthday celebration...Labor Day weekend 2007.
7 comments:
That is such a touching post! It's good that you wrote you down what you're grateful for and you could even share this with your mom. My favorite part was when you said he's now with your grandma and uncle. What a sweet reunion that must be...
What a sweet tribute to your grandpa and what AMAZING blessings that your family was able to have such a good time before he passed. I am always sad at funerals when people gather to honor a person that should have been honored while they were still alive. Sometimes it's just not possible.
What sweet memories. I know how hard that must be, even when you are somewhat prepared. Thank you for sharing that! What a beautiful picture of the 2 of you together!
Also..cute background. Is it new, or am I just not observant?
I am so sorry for your loss. It is so great that you had such a close bond with him and he knew how much he was loved.
Renae--it's new, you are observant.:)
Okay, not a good place to put this comment, but I have the coupon Renae left you and some others that have been circulating around the ward for you to go through if you want...but I don't have your number or your email :) email me: drivethrulife@gmail.com or my personal one if you have it (they both go to the same place)
Post a Comment