Great-Grandpa

It's been over a year now since my Grandpa went on to be with Jesus in Gloryland. He was a very special man. He was a high-school music teacher and played the organ at the Lutheran church for 35 years, if memory serves me correctly. I can remember going to my grandparent's house for Christmas Eve and while our entire extended family was in the pews during the late afternoon service, Grandpa would be playing the organ, come home for a meal, read the story of Christ's birth, open gifts and just when everyone else was getting tired, he would get up to go back for the late night, candle-light service. When I was younger, we all went to the late night service. While our willingness to go to church at such an hour dwindled, my grandpa continued to be faithful in his commitments.

About 3 years ago, we got him to sit up at the piano and play a hymn or two. Watching those big arthritic hands still move over the keys was amazing. Even though there were a few wrong notes, he still played with the vigor that he is remembered for.

My grandparents had raspberry bushes and when we were at their house during raspberry season, my grandpa would go out and pick some for us to eat. There is nothing in comparison to those raspberry pies.

He got slower as he aged, but one of the things that was hardest for him to let go of was mowing the grass. Just yesterday, I was browsing through pictures with my children and ran across a picture of my sister and I riding the lawn mower with Grandpa. After a few surgeries and general age-related regression, he began to need a cane or walker, but he was a bit stubborn about this. He decided that he wanted to use crutches. Now, since I am an occupational therapist, I knew that this was not very safe, but I also knew that if by using crutches he felt better about his abilities, he would get up and move around more rather than just sitting in his chair because he didn't want to look "old" using that terrible walker! He was getting more hunched over all the time, but somehow he managed to still use those crutches...in a bit of an unconventional way.

Laura was 3 when he died. She has only known a few people to die, but right away she told us that Great-Grandpa "jumped up to heaven". Every once in awhile, she still talks about him jumping up to heaven.

I like to think that he did.