I feel strange posting about some random thing like a meal I cooked or something I made today. My dear sweet grandfather passed away this weekend and I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I will not see him anymore. He was more than just my grandpa that I saw once in awhile. He was a friend. I went to him when I needed advice. He was strong, smart, hardworking, kind, generous, an optimist and he had the most beautiful blue eyes. I spent nearly every holiday with him since I was a child. He and my grandmother were married 70 years and their home was the center of our family for the longest time. In more recent years our home became the center of the holiday where all our family gathered from near and far, Christmas. Somehow the tradition was passed to us and I took it on feeling it was an honor and I hoped to do them proud. You know how people will say, "my house is too small to have everyone here". Let me tell you, their house was too small and yet they found a way for all 13 of us to gather in their humble dining room. Every year at Christmas my family from out of town would come. We lived here, I have all my life. They have lived 10 minutes from me as I never moved out of the town I grew up in. Countless times we've gone by their home and see them sitting on the porch, driven past them in the car, visted, spent birthdays, random Sundays and many many holidays. Grandpa would pull in my driveway just to say hello or come for dinner but he was always in our lives. If we didn't see each other we talked on the phone, I loved him dearly. I saw him the night before he died and kissed him goodnight, not knowing it would be the last time I would see him. My comfort is knowing that he is with God and my grandma, what a reunion that must have been. Last night the kids were playing outside in the rain and there was a double rainbow in the sky, I believe it was our sign that he had arrived and was ok. Goodbye Grandpa, I love you.
This poem hung on a picture of my grandmother after she died. He must have clipped it from the paper. "A light on in the window" by Dorothy Womack
There's a light on in the window
Just to let you know I'm here
So, wherever you are going--
Remember, I'm still near.
Feel secure and safe knowing
That my love will never change
Regardless of appearance--
My love remains the same.
There is nowhere you could travel
That, for me, is too far away--
I'll go where you desire
Beside you, I will stay.
I'll live within your heart
Forever--Nothing will
Ever change this truth--
That I am with you, still.
Yes, there's a light on in the window
To where my soul can see--
While gazing out, upon you,
You're looking in, at me--
You see the person I've become
Yet, who I used to be--
You see my light still shining
My love--Eternally.
