10 Years Ago

10 years ago, today, I was 36 weeks pregnant (exactly where I am today) and still in my blue nightgown when there was a knock at the door. When I opened the door, there stood my mom and dad. They didn't have to say anything, I knew why they were at my door. They came in and I went to a corner in my family room and just started crying, trying to get away from the news they came to share. They told me that my dear grandpa had passed away, even though I already knew, I could feel it. He had been in the hospital since April (about 3 months).

In April my grandpa had fallen and broken his hip (the doctors wondered if he had a stroke while walking down the stairs at City Hall). He went to the hospital in Richfield and was later transferred to Provo. Grandpa slipped into a coma and never woke up. It was completely unexpected. In May, my grandma was talking of coming to visit in October and was totally planning on Grandpa getting better. It was shocking.

My grandpa was my favorite extended family relative, hopefully that doesn't sound bad, but he was. He was awesome. The hardest thing about his death (for me) was knowing that my kids would not get to know their great-grandpa and make memories with him. The summer prior to his death I went on a trip with Lindsey (who was one year old) and my grandpa and grandma to Yellowstone. It was a great trip, I only wish that Lindsey would have been older to remember it.

My dad, Shelly, Grandpa, Grandma, Lindsey, my mom

I wanted to do this post as some sort of memorial about my grandpa, writing about the great memories I have of my grandpa so that my kids could "know" him.

Things I want my kids to know about their great-grandpa:

• he was the most patient man. An example of this was that he taught me, Jeremy, and Rhonda how to drive (or at least attempted to). He never got mad at us, even when Jeremy took out a row of corn in his garden.


• he loved to take pictures. His most popular subjects were us grandkids. He would use a Polaroid camera. I think some of the shutterbug rubbed off on me.


• he was the best gardener. He grew the best things in his garden, which he worked so hard in. My favorite thing he grew was peas. Every year we'd visit when the peas were ripe and we'd eat a tons of peas, and always leave with a brown paper bag filled with peas.


• he loved us grandkids. He would pack us around, pull us around (in a giant wheelbarrow), and show us off to anyone he could.


• he was resourceful. Before Salina got trash service, there was the city dump up the mountain. He would make daily trips to the dump (before the trash got pushed over the edge and burned) and look for anything he could reuse. He re-built many bicycles and toys from the things he'd find. I'm sure he built other items, but the ones us kids used were bikes, a scooter, and a wagon. My parents have a BMX trike at their house that he rebuilt that Spencer will still go rippin' around on.


• he had a "schedule" that he followed each day. He'd wake up to welcome the sun coming up, even if this meant that he'd be falling asleep in his chair by 6:00 each evening. He would visit the cafe in town daily. On the morning of his fall, he had gone to the cafe and worked on a crossword puzzle, completing it all.


• he was very smart. He had many jobs, even after he retired. He worked for the government in the department of land and soil conservation. He was a real estate agent. When we'd visit, he'd take us to see some of the houses that were for sale. I remember visiting one house that had a red kitchen - kind of creepy. He volunteered and did people's taxes during tax season.


• he liked sports. That was a common thing that he and Eric would be able to talk about when we were together.


• he was handy. Besides building items out of dump findings, he knew how to build actual buildings. He built 2 sheds at his house. He and my dad built a shed at my dad's house. He (along with his dad) remodeled their Victorian-style house. He could fix many things. I don't think there was ever anything at his house in disrepair because he fixed anything and everything.

These are just a few of the things that I've been able to think of about my grandpa. I love him and miss him dearly. I only wish that my kids could have had the opportunity to know him and build memories with him. I am so incredibly grateful for the plan of salvation and for the knowledge and the actuality of me and my family being able to see my grandpa and live with him again. How I look forward to that day!