My grandpa passed away on Saturday, January 30th. Yesterday was his birthday and I spent a lot of time thinking about him. My grandpa was my last living grandparent. I lost my grandma (his wife) twelve years ago (my junior year of high school) and my other grandparents while I was in elementary school. So, it's been a long time since I've lost someone. I had forgotten the weird array of emotions you go through from sadness to guilt (with regards to how much time I spent with him).
My grandpa was a sweet man who would have done anything for me (he quit smoking when I was two years old because I told him that it was yucky), he was a war hero, he was kind to all who knew him, and he was filled with love for his family.
Alex, Madison and I had gone home on the Friday, January 29th because my grandpa had come home from the hospital that Wednesday. He ended up going straight into hospice, so my mom thought it would be a good idea for us to come visit before things got worse. Well, Alex was able to take the day off of work and we left Friday morning. We went and visited my grandpa that afternoon for a couple of hours and had a great visit. Madison sang and danced and just was her sweet self. She went up to his bed and kept holding his hand. Throughout our visit Madison managed to sing: Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle Little Star, The Wheels on the Bus, Jingle Bells, Away In The Manger, and more, but I can't think of them all. She was such a doll. She started out a little shy/uncomfortable, but after about 15 minutes she livened up and then was filled with all sorts of entertainment.
Anyway, we were planning on going back Saturday morning for another visit, but in the middle of the night (around 3:00 am), my mom received a phone call that my grandpa had passed away in his sleep, which was really a HUGE relief. You see, my grandpa had stopped swallowing on his own and was basically going to slowly starve to death, but our gracious Lord took him before it got to that point and it was after a wonderful visit in which we all had a peace about our time spent with him.
It's always sad to lose someone you love, but in this situation it was nice to know that he was no longer suffering. My grandpa would have been 82 yesterday. So Happy Birthday Grandpa! I love you and miss you!
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2 comments:
I'm so sorry for your loss. He's gone home and that is a blessing. This post reminded me how precious our grandparents are and that we all don't live forever. I feel lucky to have one living set of grandparents that I get to see often.
I am so sorry for your loss. Losing grandparents are so hard. I know the feeling. I am glad you were able to be there.
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