Grandparents

I decided to leave work and go to the viewing with Rudy, and I'm glad I did. There is something about being there for a difficult time that makes you feel just as much (if not more) like part of a family than just being there during the happy times.

It is sad that Sara is no longer with us. But she left behind a wonderful legacy of children, grand-children and great-grand-children that she loved very much. She also led a very happy life with many friends, much fun and lots of square dancing!

Personally, I think that she knew that she would be exceedingly unhappy in any condition where she could not continue to live an independent life in her home...and I think she was ready to go. She was too independent to fight to live on in a life that would have been unhappy for her. I think it takes a brave women to know when she is ready to stop fighting.

I never looked closely at the casket. I enjoyed looking at the variety of photos available much more.

Rudy spent the whole way home talking about his memories of living in Mt. Pleasant, and it made me realize that I never really recorded any thoughts about Grandpa Eldon. Although, I must admit that he felt like the grandparent I knew the least. We had a lot of fun together when I was growing up, but I tended to have a preference for my grandmothers growing up - they took me out to lunch and out shopping - more exciting that working on the car when you are a young girl.

But we did have things in common. I remember watching the Reds on TV with Grandpa Eldon and Grandma Lillian, and in later years we watched golf together, when I *finally* became interested in it. The three of us went out golfing together a couple of times. My grandmother prodded me a bit more, since she knows what it is like to be a female golfer...but we all had a great time out on the links and getting lunch afterward.

I remember Grandpa doing his crossword puzzles and reading Reader's Digest in his chair by the front door (I wasn't really involved with that). He also liked to do jigsaw puzzles, which I remember helping with. When the three of us were watching TV, he would fall asleep in his chair and I also remember that when I spent the night, he would take the bed in the other room so I could sleep in his twin bed in the master bedroom and be closer to Grandma.

I remember discovering all kinds of cool stuff with him in the basement. There were pool balls, old vacuum cleaners and many things that I think he planned to fix someday. It was musty and dirty down there, but that was probably the place that the two of us spent the most time. Well, that and the backyard. He was always happy to throw a ball or practice chipping or do anything that was possible to do in their small urban yard...which is probably about the same size as the yard that Rudy and I have now. I hadn't thought about that before...

Enough typing for one night. I want to go work on the second sleeve of my t-shirt.

Note to self - Tara wants an orange felted purse for Christmas. :-)