January

Phew. January has been a huge blur. I lost my Grandpa on the 12th of January. What an amazing man, husband, father and grandpa. His heath had been slowly declining for years, and I remember watching him at Christmas and thinking that this might really be his last one. On New Year's Eve, he suffered a stroke that took his ability to speak and swallow. It was awful. I went to the Hospital and it broke my heart. That is when I truly mourned for him. I remember coming home to Eric shocked. Shocked that I knew that he wanted to go, and shocked that I wanted him to be free of all of his pain, frustration and constant illnesses.
My grandparents had such a special, unique love. There relationship was inspiring and there was never a question that they absolutely treasured and loved each other. In true Grandpa fashion, once Grandma said it was okay to leave her, he did.
The funeral was lovely. Everything a funeral should be. Grandpa's request was that the funeral be completely done by the family. Everyone did such a nice job. Big E and I even got through our duet. Honestly, I left that funeral wanting to be such a better person. That's the kid of man my grandpa was, someone that inspired others to be their very best and greatest. I will always be so grateful for my little Mack, that he has such a marvelous person whom he is named after. I hope he develops so many of Grandpa's qualities.
I love that Grandma of mine, I will always be so glad that my family is close. What a blessing for Grandparents to be such an huge influencing factor for their grandchildren.

So I am sure we have appeared to be frantic and crazy, and we kinda have been. I know I missed Birthdays, prior commitments, lunch dates and so on. But sometimes life is like that. Sometimes life has to stop for a few moments so we remember how great and blessed it is.