We took a little trip to Boise for my grandpa's funeral last month. Losing my grandpa was a very bitter sweet time. He hasn't been well for a while and it was so hard to see him struggling. The selfish part of me was sad that he wasn't here with us anymore. It was a wonderful opportunity to get together with family, explain the plan of happiness with my kids, and just reflect on life in general.
I love my grandpa with all my heart. In my mind I can still hear him greet me with his "oh, there is Collettee". It always made my heart happy to hear this and then see his arms outstretched ready for a hug. It didn't change when I was an adult and had kids of my own. I loved to see him greet them the same way and see their eyes light up when he gave them a hug.
We were lucky enough to live close to my grandparents. I have countless memories of trips with them, quick runs to the cabin, Sunday dinners, and just regular days that they were around.
Grandpa was never to busy for us. If he had things to do, we helped him out. He wasn't afraid to make us work. He loved to play too. I remember staying in Thermopolis one summer and waiting for Grandpa and my dad to get home from work. We were going to go swimming at the Star Plunge. I remember Grandpa mentioning that he was going to go down the slide the next time we were there. Us kids went swimming earlier in the day (I think we spent all our time there that summer) and noticed that the sign said people over 60-0r something close to that-couldn't go on the slide. We quickly tried to calculate his age and then I worried all day because he was over the age limit. Well, true to their word, Dad and Grandpa took us swimming that night after a long day at work. Do you think the age limit stopped Grandpa? Not at all. He went down that slide a couple of times.
I could go on for a long time with memories. There are lots of them. My cousins have all written beautiful tributes.
The weekend of the funeral was wonderful. It was great to see so much family. My grandpa's sisters came with some of their families, my grandma's sisters came with their families and of course all of my cousins that came from all over to pay one final tribute to Grandpa.
As we left the church it was snowing. True Wyoming form in Idaho!!
He was buried in the Idaho state veterans cemetery. My grandma didn't know what was going on but it was neat to see the flag presented to her.
Afterwards the ward put together a wonderful luncheon. We had a chance to visit and relax. Here is most of my Hamblin side. We are missing one aunt and uncle and about 8 cousins with their families.
My grandpa was known for his spud-nuts. Running a spud-nut shop is what took him and his sister to Rawlins where he eventually met my grandma. To honor him my uncle invited everyone over and we had spud-nuts. Oh. My. They were divine. We ordered pizza and just enjoyed everyone's company.Some other highlights from the weekend that weren't funeral/family related:
- Brent forgot to grab his suit so we did a mad dash to the mall with everyone in their church clothes. The lady at Macy's was so nice and helped us get him outfitted in no time.
- We all went swimming a couple of times.
- On the way home we missed our turn off and ended up in Pocatello before we realized we missed it! Brent didn't know how far off our route we were(he had never been to Boise-or Pocatello), but I sure did!! Luckily it only ended up adding about an hour to our trip. Sheesh!!
I know that Grandpa is happy and was happy to see all of us together. I can only think of his reunion with his momma and daddy with a smile. To think of all he can do now makes me happy. I know that we will see him again if we do our part here on earth! 'Till we meet again, Grandpa!
**all photos are courtesy of my dear, sweet, cousin, Abbie of Abbie Rufener photography...I didn't get my camera out once!**
5 comments:
Oh Collette, I'm sorry about your Grandpa. After going through this with mine around Thanksgiving last year, I know exactly what you're feeling. Glad to see them in a happier place, but, will still miss them. What a beautiful post. The pictures are beautiful!
I loved looking at the photos Abbie forwarded to everyone - such reverence could be felt for this great man. I wish we could've gone. I love reading about his greeting to you - made me think of my own grandpa's who've passed away. I always say, I can't believe we're at that age - the age of realizing that grandparents aren't invincible. But I love that we're old enough to know where they are and that they're happy. I can only imagine all of them together, watching us raise their posterity, cheering us on as we do so. How awesome is that? :)
Lovely Collette. Such a sweet tribute.
i have truly enjoyed the time i've had to write each cousins' personal tribute. he truly had a positive impact in all of our lives.
well said, well said.
Ok I've read this about a Jillion times. I love that you could express what you feel so good. I miss him so much I start to cry just thinking about him. Thanks for posting this though it's been nice to reflect on.
love you.
Andrea
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