In Remembrance

Through the sad moments of being close to losing a family pet, the heartache deepened with the loss of my grandpa this past week. I hope others feel the same way about their grandparents as I do when I say this guy was one of the most hardworking, trustworthy, and loving people I knew. He was wise and had the greatest sense of humor. He loved me and he loved Tyler and he told me this often. He loved his suspenders, always pointed at things with his "naughty" finger, could talk politics with my husband like it was going out of style, had a subscription to every sort of fishing/plant/hunting magazine known to man, took care of his home and truck like they were his fourth and fifth kids, could fry up some mean catfish, and always smelled of his favorite cologne from The Fort. (I also think there was an Avon scent thrown in there from time to time.. hee hee.) My grandma was nice enough to let me choose a few plants from his service to bring home with me. I brought home a big ole green leafy one that sits in our office by the window and also an arrangement of fresh cut flowers. I have a heartfelt moment or memory for every petal, leaf, stem, needle and bud in this arrangement:

 

With this little boy growing away inside me I often think about how lucky I am to have family close, and with the loss of a very big part of that family called Grandpa, I think even more. I'm sad he won't be around to meet our little person in May (his only request before he passed was that I not name it Obama -- lol.) I'm sad Raindrop won't get to sit on his great grandpa's knee with his own grandpa for that one in a million shot of a couple generations together, but I know in all honesty it was his time to go, time to get past the suffering he's endured over the past days, weeks, months, and move on to what we all hear of as much greater things. Put that way, far in the future, I look forward to one day seeing him again; fishing lure in one hand and the other hand pointing to my spot on the bench next to him in the boat.. With the tune of Anchors Away in the background, his final humor plays in my mind: "I figured if I've caught 70% of the fish in the world, it's okay for me to go..."
-G. Fredric Nickel. 1932-2013