The week of Jessie’s birthday (January 19th) my Dad—Jessie’s Grumps—died. The road we all travelled these last few weeks was filled with laughter and grief, as all our comings and goings are, I think.
Since much of what is important in life is about relationship, I offer here glimpses of Jessie’s relationship with Grumps. Some photos of them together, and a final photo of all of us (my mom, Jessie, Grumps and me) with the quilt we made for him from his old golf pants. A treasured quilt, a treasured man.
As we prepared for the “celebration” of his life, Jessie asked if she could speak at the gathering. This is what she said:
Grumps was my grandfather. To me he was the best reader. He loved rhyming books and when I was little he read to me. He also loved to correct my grammar. But most of all I loved his heart. He also had a great sense of humour. Grumps taught me to breathe and to have an open mind. I loved his smile. And when he smiled, you knew that he had the capacity for joy. You might not know this about Grumps, but he had 2 stomachs. One for regular food, and one for sweets like caramel ice cream, carrot cake, almond crescents, dove bars, and crème caramel. If his “regular” stomach was full, there was room in that second stomach for anything sweet. And the more in that second stomach the better. He gave me this gift of a second stomach. So I say have some ice cream to celebrate Grumps!
Since much of what is important in life is about relationship, I offer here glimpses of Jessie’s relationship with Grumps. Some photos of them together, and a final photo of all of us (my mom, Jessie, Grumps and me) with the quilt we made for him from his old golf pants. A treasured quilt, a treasured man.
As we prepared for the “celebration” of his life, Jessie asked if she could speak at the gathering. This is what she said:
And that's just what we all did!
1 comment:
Grumps definitely had tastes in rhythm and rhyme! (On a Wing and a Wish: great book of Salt Water Rhymes).
Yes: breathing and an open mind are great.
"I loved his smile. And when he smiled, you knew that he had the capacity for joy."
Now that was one ice-cream social to take in!
One thing: the flag image does not work for right-clicking the way the other images do. When I mouse over the images I get their file names. The flag one is embedded (it has some awesome beach and cliffs there!).
"A treasured quilt; a treasured man".
I get a sense of the Maritimes around Grumps!
Grump's body may have gone and the relationship remains.
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