Today is my Peppermint Grandpa's birthday. We was born in 1931, which means he was about 30 years old when Dear ol' Dad was born. By my Chin math, he would have been 80 years old today. He was very special to me but three years ago he got very sick and when to Heaven to wait for me. Grandpa was not a man that had a lot of schooling but he was very wise. He was a hard worker and believed in an honest days work for an honest days pay. He worked 34 years for the same company, driving a truck all over the mid-west. He worked till he was unable to walk any longer, working as a janitor in a Church until his legs stopped working. Even in his last days, as he body betrayed him, his mind never stopped working.
Grandpa was alway in a wheelchair for as long as I knew him and would carry me in his lap as Dad pushed us around the nursing home he lived at or when we went out in public. Grandpa was a simple man, he didn't need fancy things or to go fancy places. He would feed me 4 or 5 peppermint candies every time he saw me (more when Dad wasn't looking). He also loved to talk to me and would laugh when I cocked my head like I was trying to understand his every word. I was his furry Princess and he someone who always looked forward to seeing me when I came ot visit.
One day, Dad came home with tears in his eyes and a heavy heart... that is the day he told me my Peppermint Grandpa was gone and I wouldn't see him again any time soon. Dad didn't smile, or cook, or laugh or crack jokes for quite some time after that day. He still talks to me about how he misses Grandpa, sometimes. Days like today, he tells me that he especially misses Grandpa... a man of few words but HUGE heart. Everybody was enchanted by my Grandpa, he was the kind of man you hope your kids grow up to be, someday. Dad always says... if he could be 1/2 the man that Grandpa was, he would be amazing.
Life will end for all of us one day, my Chin friends. The light behind our eyes will go out and nothing is left here but our shell. Dad tells me that the measure of a man is the legacy he leaves behind... its how he's remembered that tells how he lived his life. As I look at the big man with the big heart who types my words every day... I know that some day we will be seperated too. I will likely go before him, leaving for my place on the Rainbow Bridge where I will wait with his other dogs. Noodles and Casey, Sadie the Beagle and, at some point, Finn and I and the Bitty will all wait together for him to come to join us. We will watch from our high perch as he loves another dog or two... trying to honor our memories by caring for another one of us who needs a better life. We will all be jealous as he loves them... not because he loves us less but because we cannot feel his touch or sit at his side as he talks TO us, not at us.
Friends, death is more about those left behind than those taken... never forget that fact. You honor those departed by never letting their memory die BUT moreso.. by assuring your life goes on. You live your life to the best of your ability and in that, you prove their loyalty and love was not for nothing. You remember the best days EVER... the days of walk and drives and naps and great meals.
Dear ol' Dad says that I am his "One and Only Sophie May"... and I am. He can never replace me and I could never replace him. However he could, and likely will, move on without me. In that fact ONLY, I am glad Finn came into his life. Finn isn't me but he is comfort should I not be here.
I am and will always be Dad's furchild. Whichever of us goes first, the other will mark the time dreaming of a day when we will travel the roads of forever, together. He is not so young anymore... I'm not either. With any luck, he'll live to be 120 and I will be there beside him every minute.
We miss you, Grandpa. Today we honor the day of your birth. Today we pay tribute to you, the best man either of us ever knew. I will eat a peppermint in your honor today... however, I doubt that it will be as sweet as all those you gave me. Our love to you, Grandpa... we both have an empty place in our hearts that was created when you left us.
Take time to love each other, friends. Life is too short to do anything else.
Sophie & Dear ol' Dad
Grandpa was alway in a wheelchair for as long as I knew him and would carry me in his lap as Dad pushed us around the nursing home he lived at or when we went out in public. Grandpa was a simple man, he didn't need fancy things or to go fancy places. He would feed me 4 or 5 peppermint candies every time he saw me (more when Dad wasn't looking). He also loved to talk to me and would laugh when I cocked my head like I was trying to understand his every word. I was his furry Princess and he someone who always looked forward to seeing me when I came ot visit.
One day, Dad came home with tears in his eyes and a heavy heart... that is the day he told me my Peppermint Grandpa was gone and I wouldn't see him again any time soon. Dad didn't smile, or cook, or laugh or crack jokes for quite some time after that day. He still talks to me about how he misses Grandpa, sometimes. Days like today, he tells me that he especially misses Grandpa... a man of few words but HUGE heart. Everybody was enchanted by my Grandpa, he was the kind of man you hope your kids grow up to be, someday. Dad always says... if he could be 1/2 the man that Grandpa was, he would be amazing.
Life will end for all of us one day, my Chin friends. The light behind our eyes will go out and nothing is left here but our shell. Dad tells me that the measure of a man is the legacy he leaves behind... its how he's remembered that tells how he lived his life. As I look at the big man with the big heart who types my words every day... I know that some day we will be seperated too. I will likely go before him, leaving for my place on the Rainbow Bridge where I will wait with his other dogs. Noodles and Casey, Sadie the Beagle and, at some point, Finn and I and the Bitty will all wait together for him to come to join us. We will watch from our high perch as he loves another dog or two... trying to honor our memories by caring for another one of us who needs a better life. We will all be jealous as he loves them... not because he loves us less but because we cannot feel his touch or sit at his side as he talks TO us, not at us.
Friends, death is more about those left behind than those taken... never forget that fact. You honor those departed by never letting their memory die BUT moreso.. by assuring your life goes on. You live your life to the best of your ability and in that, you prove their loyalty and love was not for nothing. You remember the best days EVER... the days of walk and drives and naps and great meals.
Dear ol' Dad says that I am his "One and Only Sophie May"... and I am. He can never replace me and I could never replace him. However he could, and likely will, move on without me. In that fact ONLY, I am glad Finn came into his life. Finn isn't me but he is comfort should I not be here.
I am and will always be Dad's furchild. Whichever of us goes first, the other will mark the time dreaming of a day when we will travel the roads of forever, together. He is not so young anymore... I'm not either. With any luck, he'll live to be 120 and I will be there beside him every minute.
We miss you, Grandpa. Today we honor the day of your birth. Today we pay tribute to you, the best man either of us ever knew. I will eat a peppermint in your honor today... however, I doubt that it will be as sweet as all those you gave me. Our love to you, Grandpa... we both have an empty place in our hearts that was created when you left us.
Take time to love each other, friends. Life is too short to do anything else.
Sophie & Dear ol' Dad