the blissed life: happening: remembered: a sweet love story is shared

in the past week I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to share a few final moments with my grandfather. he passed away only yesterday.

had it not been for a heart attack I may not have been able to tell him I loved him one last time. I suppose it depends on your perspective but for this particular event I am thankful. most people don’t have that opportunity. over the years I had developed a much deeper connection with my grandma so when I found out it was grandpa who was ill I wanted to be there, in some way for even the shortest amount of time. a quick evening trip is all it amounted to but it’s a decision I’ll never regret making.

as a girl I was always closer with Grandma Annie simply because she was a girl and we did ‘girl stuff.’ grandpa Richard on the other hand had always been a guy’s guy; he worked on cars, operated heavy equipment, drove fast, drank beer, smoked cigarettes, played cards and did other burly man things. to be honest I was slightly intimidated by him. he could lay down the law and I knew it!

I love this picture of my grandpa!

grandpa never seemed to spend a lot of time chit chatting with the ladies in the kitchen which is where I usually was when the family was together but he was always easy going and seemed to know who was coming and going. since my grandma’s passing I noticed a change in his demeanor; he seemed gentler. it’s possible this quality always existed however it was more pronounced without her presence. he simply wasn’t that same intimidating and burly man I remembered as a kid. he asked questions and made conversation easy; he was truly a great listener.

this side of grandpa reminded me a sweet story he told me once about how he and my grandmother met. when I was younger I spent many nights at my grandparents and the best nights were the ones when it was just the three of us. on one of those occasions I asked grandpa how he met grandma. (I was a very inquisitive child.) he told me that he met her at a truck stop diner, she was a waitress. he said he just looked at her and said ‘that’s the girl I’m going to marry.’ naturally I didn’t believe him. I mean, in my mind he was not this type of guy so I asked Grandma. she confirmed his story. according to her, he was so convinced that she was ‘the one’ that he visited that stop several times before she agreed to a date. they were young and in love and on June 26, 1961 they were married. they were married 48 years before my grandma passed in 2009. it’s still one of my favorite love stories.