Sad Time and Happy Time

Mary and the kids and I took a trip out to Colorado to visit her sister. We had a wonderful trip, and really enjoyed Becky and Mitch's kids.

I didn't check my cell phone for the whole trip. I should have. I checked my email upon getting back home on Friday night, and found a message from my Dad, telling me that my grandfather had passed away on Thanksgiving morning.

So, a bit of frantic calling around, and checking plans. The funeral was yesterday, and Mary, Kyle, Tori, Samuel, and Miriam and I went for a road trip. It was a sad time, but we gave my grandfather a good send off. He had lots of people that he worked with show up at the gathering, and I met lots of people who said my grandfather was a wonderful person. It was good to know that so many others thought as highly of him as I did.

My grandmother summed up the problem the best, by saying that she had lost her husband years ago, and was just waiting for his body to fail. My grandfather suffered from Alzheimer's disease. He had no memory anymore, and couldn't remember things for longer than an hour. He could remember your face and your name, but not that you had just been there to see him yesterday.

I knew that he was going, when he had the TV removed from his room, because he couldn't figure out how to change the channel. So he listened to the radio.

What to say of a wonderful man who had some faults as we all do? I'll miss you, PawPaw. I still love you, and will keep your memory alive.