On January 9, my sweet Grandma went to wake up my wonderful Gramps from his usual morning nap on the couch in order to make him lunch.....and he was gone. His spirit was with his Heavenly Father. I have been delaying writing this post, because I still cannot appropriately articulate what he meant to me. But I did write him this letter six days after his death in my journal, as I was trying to find the words for the overwhelming sadness I was feeling.
Dearest Gramps,
I love you with my whole heart, and miss you more than words can describe. You are sitting with the Lord, and we are all so at peace for you. But we now have a hole in our lives. We no longer can call you to chat. We will no longer get to sit with you at the kitchen table. We will no longer smile as you peacefully sleep on the couch. We will no longer get to see YOU smile. Gramps, you are loved more than you possibly knew while you were here. Thank you for always being interested in how I was REALLY doing, not just on the surface, but deep, deep down. You would always ask endless questions. As I grew up, I didn't always understand why you did that. But now I know that you were truly interested in my dreams, my ambitions, and my soul. Thank you for showing me how much you love me. Thank you for showing us a faith in God that was unwavering. You trusted that God would always supply your needs. Thank you for that example of faith. Thank you for the legacy that you provided to all of us. Thank you for loving all of us so much. We all love you so much that this hole with you missing is incredibly hard to bear.
Brookie
My brother, Jonathan, had the foresight last summer to interview our three remaining grandparents via video. He asked them questions about their life experiences and their overall world view. I admit that I didn't take the time before now to watch them. (My life is CRAZY). But I did watch this one after Gramps' funeral, and sobbed like a baby. I share with you, now, just to share a little bit with you about this amazing man.
sitting around sharing our favorite Gramps memories
day after funeral hugs
cracker barrel breakfast
In front of our favorite (former) family business. The building is still in the fam. I miss the Fixture House so much.
I cannot describe the memories I have in this building, going to "work" with my grandparents every summer.
This house. My grandparents house. Every inch a memory. We officially have no one in the family living here anymore. My heart is broken.
Ahh, spring 2017, you were MONUMENTAL. Absolutely monumental. You will forever be remembered as one of my favorite seasons of life. For in this season....(are you ready blog readers??).....I ENTERED INTO A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP. It's true!! It's true!! I'm not going to share his name or photos, yet, in order to respect the fact that we both work at the same university, and it is a MAJOR "fishbowl" around here. Whew! (Granted, literally no one at ISU knows I blog, and I have no readers anymore, so there's that.......) We met because of a mutual friend, and he invited me to a Bible Study. We also happen to be in the same community choir, and so I've actually known of him for two years. Friends, this dating journey has already been magical. Being able to get to know him as a friend and fellow Christian before anything happened romantically was PERFECT. (Single gals, DO THIS. Trust me. Sit and observe. Pray, pray, pray. Work past the initial...
What an epic week! I'll start with tonight. So my friend Abby moved to Winston. Totally exciting, long awaited, great-opportunity-for-her, overall momentous occasion. I told her we'd celebrate. Picked my favorite restaurant downtown. Her sister drove in from Raleigh. I invited my best work friend to come. We enjoyed a great dinner downtown tonight. Felt all "small city metropolitan." (or at least I did). We walked as a group of four out to the parking lot, myself in front. I heard a scream. I turned around, expecting to see her talking to someone she knew. Instead I saw a man running away from us, and Abby saying that he tried to take her purse. I screamed at him. He just ran away. I saw a cop down the street who pulled someone over. I ran to him to ask for help. He helped us. "Robber" proceeds to come OUT of the parking deck near us AGAIN! Cop arrested him, five cop cars pulled up....and many questions later we learn that we will all have to appe...
Blair's wedding is getting ever closer....about 10 days to be exact. We are all definitely feeling the craziness, that is for sure. Are weddings ever really "simple" affairs?? Despite the hectic schedule of wedding planning, we are all so excited for next week and have high hopes for a wonderful wedding weekend. Blair is the first of us four kids to get married, the first cousin on one side & only the second on the other to get married - so we are all new at this wedding thing! =) We celebrated with my dad's family this weekend to give them a chance to meet Matthew and his family. My dad's family is huge and most of them were able to come with us to Falls Lake park for two big meals, football, and "hanging out." The rain held off (as the rainbow in the morning promised us!) and Blair and I sobbed leaving because it was such a special day. We didn't want it to end. I feel so lucky to have such great families on both sides. I have tons of cousins ...
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