This time of year always brings back memories for me. Memories of my grampa, probably my favorite person in the world. He got me in a way that no one since has. He has been gone now almost 11 years, and I still miss him like he just left. He and I would spend our friday afternoon before Memorial Day cleaning up his uncles and his parents's graves at the cemetary, preparing for the holiday. To this day I still do it. I can't help it, I feel that its my place and my honor to do so.
As a child, my sister, grandpa, and I would do it, though I didn't understand why. As years went by, Cheryl quit joining us. I'm thinking it was because she had "better things" to do, as she was becoming a teenager. But I continued to do it, even in high school.
Grampa was a World War II veteran, fought in the Battle of the Bulge. I wish I could've learned about his experiences during the war and as a POW, but he never spoke much of it. He was a quiet man, I think thats why I loved him so much. As a child I was really quiet myself, that is unless you knew me pretty well.
Grandpa loved to garden. I mean really loved to. He did have 2 of them.. hahaha One in his backyard, the other at their house at Topaz. He grew just about everything! Tomatoes, melons, strawberries, raspberries, asparagus just to name a few. My favorites were the strawberries and raspberries. In a scrap book that I still have, is a picture of me in the raspberry plants at Topaz. My grandma also told me that one time they found me sleeping underneath the bushes.
Memorial Day weekend was the first official weekend of summer fun at the lake. We would play in the water as long as the weather would hold out. It was also the first offical bbq time of the season. Dad or Grampa would cook burgers and hotdogs, gramma would make salads, cut up berries and veggies, and chips would be put out.
My sister, many cousins, and I spent many happy years up at the lake. Until we lost grampa...that was a tough loss for me. I lost my comrade. He had fallen and broken his neck at Topaz, though it did not kill him, it brought him closer.. He was taken to Washoe Medical and the first night there he was pumped full of pain killers his old body wasn't used to. He didn't remember anyone and that just broke my gramma's heart, his wife of almost 50 years. He spent the last weeks of his life there. Towards the end, he started recognizing faces again. But he never left there alive. One week after my high school graduation, he passed on to the next world.. I cry thinking about it.. he didn't deserve to go in such a manner.
His funeral was attended by many. The church was full, people standing up the sides, even people standing outside in the early summer sun. Many wonderful things were said, I learned some new things about him. But the ending is whats memorable. To end on a happy note, we sang "Take me out to the Ballgame" as he was a huge San Fransisco Giants fan. The funeral director even mentioned that this was the first funeral he did that ended on a happy tone. This was the last funeral he directed. But he's a story for another day...
As a child, my sister, grandpa, and I would do it, though I didn't understand why. As years went by, Cheryl quit joining us. I'm thinking it was because she had "better things" to do, as she was becoming a teenager. But I continued to do it, even in high school.
Grampa was a World War II veteran, fought in the Battle of the Bulge. I wish I could've learned about his experiences during the war and as a POW, but he never spoke much of it. He was a quiet man, I think thats why I loved him so much. As a child I was really quiet myself, that is unless you knew me pretty well.
Grandpa loved to garden. I mean really loved to. He did have 2 of them.. hahaha One in his backyard, the other at their house at Topaz. He grew just about everything! Tomatoes, melons, strawberries, raspberries, asparagus just to name a few. My favorites were the strawberries and raspberries. In a scrap book that I still have, is a picture of me in the raspberry plants at Topaz. My grandma also told me that one time they found me sleeping underneath the bushes.
Memorial Day weekend was the first official weekend of summer fun at the lake. We would play in the water as long as the weather would hold out. It was also the first offical bbq time of the season. Dad or Grampa would cook burgers and hotdogs, gramma would make salads, cut up berries and veggies, and chips would be put out.
My sister, many cousins, and I spent many happy years up at the lake. Until we lost grampa...that was a tough loss for me. I lost my comrade. He had fallen and broken his neck at Topaz, though it did not kill him, it brought him closer.. He was taken to Washoe Medical and the first night there he was pumped full of pain killers his old body wasn't used to. He didn't remember anyone and that just broke my gramma's heart, his wife of almost 50 years. He spent the last weeks of his life there. Towards the end, he started recognizing faces again. But he never left there alive. One week after my high school graduation, he passed on to the next world.. I cry thinking about it.. he didn't deserve to go in such a manner.
His funeral was attended by many. The church was full, people standing up the sides, even people standing outside in the early summer sun. Many wonderful things were said, I learned some new things about him. But the ending is whats memorable. To end on a happy note, we sang "Take me out to the Ballgame" as he was a huge San Fransisco Giants fan. The funeral director even mentioned that this was the first funeral he did that ended on a happy tone. This was the last funeral he directed. But he's a story for another day...
Neat-o kid. Though, I stopped going because I had to work. ;)
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