Grandpa: Part 6

~Wednesday, January 23~

 

Today Dad was gone most of the day running around town getting things taken care of to make sure that all the bills get paid on time, certain services were stopped, etc. The rest of us stayed at home and rested after all the activity. We started to clean things up a bit, as the house had gotten a little chaotic with all the funeral prep, searching for documents, shredding documents, pulling out clothes, going through pictures, and more. We tried to finish up laundry and prepare to leave early the next morning.

 

That evening we went to the nursing home to visit Grandma one last time. It’s difficult leaving her after such a huge change. The thought of her being apart from family is heart-breaking, but we’re kind of stuck. Her health is too frail for her to travel and live closer to one of her kids, and the kids have jobs in other states they have to tend to. Dad and Aunt Debbie plan to fly up once a month to visit Grandma and continue going through the things at the house.

 

When we arrived, we chatted for quite awhile with the security officer at the front desk. He’s been working there almost every time we’ve come to visit since Grandma moved there in April, so we’ve gotten to know him a little better along with some of the orderlies. After chatting about our travel plans, we went back to the dining hall to see Grandma.

 

We helped her cut things up on her plate and made sure that she ate a reasonable amount of food.

Photo Credit: Roma.

Some of the pictures we had put up in her display box had fallen down because the tape wasn’t holding it up enough. So we put a few thumb-tacks in before we left.

Photo Credit: Roma.

~Thursday, January 24~

 

The next morning we left a little later than we had intended (around 8:30 a.m.) It took us a long time to go through the house and make sure we left everything neat and picked up since there’s no one there to do that anymore. I had to snap an Instagram picture of the birdfeeder. That’s how much snow we had received!

Before we left we gathered around to pray in the dining room. That choked some of us up, because Grandpa always prayed for us before we left. The most difficult part was driving down his street. Several of us started crying because of the memories. He would always come out to the garage and wave at us as we drove away. Dad tooted the horn, even though there was no Grandpa waving at us.



The sun started to peek out as we drove. It was a beautiful reminder that God is always with us.

That afternoon we made a special stop for lunch. When Mom and Dad were first married, they lived in southern Ohio. They often reminisced about a dairy they used to visit when they lived there. We had talked about stopping and eating there when we would travel through that town, but somehow we never drove through during mealtime. But since we had left late that day, we rolled into town right around lunch time.

 

The food at the dairy was delicious! Several of us enjoyed cheeseburgers. I decided to try their specialty item: fried cheese curds. While I’m sure they weren’t the healthiest choice, they were definitely good. And after all, if you’ve waited for years to go to a specific restaurant, you HAVE to try their signature item, right? Right!

And of course if you go to a dairy, you have to have ice cream. J

Happy cows.

We arrived at our hotel that night pretty late because we stopped at Panera bread for dinner. When we had been going through Grandpa’s personal effects, we found a stack of gift cards that we had given Grandpa, that he had never used (we gave him gift cards on special occasions so that he could go out to eat and not have to cook as much.) Apparently his favorite restaurant was the local restaurant that we couldn’t get gift cards for, so he never used these. So we used some of them when we stopped to eat.

 

~Friday, January 25~

 

The next morning we left earlier after eating breakfast at the hotel. I was so tired after getting up early so many times, that as soon as we got in the car, I conked out. Normally I’m half-awake when I snooze, but I was REALLY asleep.

 

I was sleeping so soundly that I missed the arch in St. Louis. Oh well. J

Photo Credit: Roma.

We stopped at an Applebee’s for lunch. Normally we wouldn’t go to a sit-down restaurant when we’re traveling, but since we had gift cards we decided to go there. Despite the cold temps, Roma and I tried their frozen strawberry lemonade. Definitely recommend it!

Photo Credit: Roma.

The twins enjoying their lunch.

Unfortunately that stop delayed us by a couple of hours. We didn’t make it home until REALLY late that night. Thankfully it was a Friday, so we slept in the next morning.

 

I have a habit of listening to a song on my iPod just before I go to bed. That night I listened to “Save a Place for Me” by Matthew West. I broke down again, partly because of the grief and partly as a release of all the stress that had been present throughout the prior two weeks. Grandpa’s absence will mean a lot of adjustments. It hit me that I’ll never hear his voice on the other end of the phone on my birthday. I miss him so much.

 

~Saturday, January 26~

 

The next morning we were pleasantly surprised to receive a bouquet of flowers from friends. Our mailbox was flooded with sympathy cards and several neighbors brought food over for our family.



The neighbor that watched our cats brought over lunch that day, which was completely unexpected since she had already done so much for us. She and her 90-year-old mother brought over a delicious taco salad, fried chicken, fried okra, and peach cobbler. Now that’s true southern comfort food!

~Epilogue~

 

While we are slowly transitioning back into a new normal, there is still an emptiness in our hearts. The full realization that Grandpa is gone will sink in slowly over time. There will be distinct moments when his absence will hit hard. My Dad will be reminded every Sunday. He talked with Grandpa on the phone every Sunday night for as long as I can remember. Mom won’t be able to fix coffee for her “Father-in-love.” I won’t get to cuddle up next to him on the couch as we lament how cold we always are. Ben will not be able to call Grandpa on Veteran’s day, as he always did. Rubia and Roma won’t be able to write him letters. Josiah won’t be able to ask Grandpa questions about guns and his time in Korea.

 

We’re all going to miss him, and the grieving process will take a long time. But we grieve with hope. We trust that our God is faithful and that He keeps all His promises. He will keep the promise He made in John 14:2, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.” He will keep the promise He made in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

 

We want to thank all of you for your notes, cards, emails, comments, flowers, meals, prayers, and support. They mean so much to us. We are incredibly blessed by God!