WW: Grandpa {Linky}

Last Tuesday I didn't post a WW because I was miles away at a funeral. I thought about not posting this, but death is part of life. I wrote about my Grandpa passing away, but never wrote about his funeral. I say - he lived to 93 years young. I have nothing, but happy memories from my Grandparents on my Mom's side. My Grandma died many years ago from Alzheimer's. My Grandpa just like most people at 93 was really forgetful. The brain has to age just like the rest of your body.

Just this year I taught Grandpa how to take Selfies.

A few months back he went to the hospital, and lost 1/2 his blood. Even the doctors were surprised he made it through that.

This time he fell really bad. He was all bruised up, but didn't break anything. They did find a tear in his vertebrae by his neck, that was from an old fall. He was doing well, sitting up, and eating, had a massive seizure, and that was it. I'm so glad he went that way. They wouldn't have operated on his neck. Living with pain isn't the way to go.

I felt like I was doing ok at the funeral. Mica was a Paul Bearer for the first time.

My cousin asked if they should line up in age order, or height order? Mica at age 14 is 6 foot.

Isaak wasn't a Paul Bearer, but sure was cute. 

He's with his youngest cousin Edison in this photo.

I saw my Great Uncles and lost it. I know they are so close! One lost his wife, his daughter, and now his best friend and brother, my Grandpa. The other had just gotten out of the hospital two days prior to the funeral. On all there were seven of them.

To top it off, when we went to go to the graveyard one of my Great Uncles was using a cane my Grandpa had made for him. The cane broke, he fell, and had to be rushed off to the hospital. He's ok. Just a big egg on his head!

We had a military service. My Grandpa went into the Navy.

Kind of random, but my Grandpa always had a stash of hard candy in hidden in his car. He loved Root Beers, Butterscotch, and Coffee. I passed a few out to people I was around.

Each Paul Bearer left their boutonniere on the casket. I have no idea if that's a tradition, or not.

We left roses on our family member's graves. My Grandma was Dorothy.

So much of me thinks of life being like a circle. One person dies, another is born. Just like seasons, and our calendar revolve in a circle. 

Who is the closest person to you that's passed away? 

I'd have to say my Grandma Dorothy was to me.

What Happened on Thursday

On Wednesday many of us (my cousins, siblings and I) couldn't go to my Grandma's wake. There was a Fall Festival going on in the area. No hotel rooms were there. We all showed up on Thursday for the funeral. It was great to see everyone. I loved that so many people were there for my Grandma! The church was pretty full. My grandparents haven't live in that small town for 4 years.

It was good to hear stories about how wonderful she was.

Below: Me and my Grandparents when I was in college many moons ago. I made them that paper quilt. It was all made out of homemade paper.

Mica had a mountain of questions. In the church I gave Mica and Isaak little sketchbooks I get for free from Blick Art Supplies. Mica always asks, "What should I draw?" I told him, "Why don't you draw Great Grandma Kent." I handed him the bulletin that had her picture on it. He happily drew a picture of her and added Domino's to the front (which she liked to play) and an image of himself on the side with a bubble coming out of his mouth saying, "You are my friend." He later ripped it out to give it to Great Grandpa Kent. Mica's a charmer, but he also is very blunt. The day ended with him saying, "This is all we came here for?" I think with all that driving, he thought we were going to stay in a hotel.  

I have to say that the boys were very good during the day!

While Thursday was in the works we, Aunt Terra and Uncle Tyson were waiting for a VERY IMPORTANT phone call! During a routine ultrasound they found a few Wilm's Tumors on Emerson's kidneys. If just one kidney has a tumor they do surgery. Both kidneys have tumors on them. Chemo is the only way to treat them. Only one pediatrician oncologist would see him. Because he has Trisomy 18, the others wouldn't see him at all.

Little Emerson in his play area.

In order for Emerson to be treated their family had to go to an Ethics meeting at the hospital on Wednesday night. It's sort of like going before a jury. They had to present what Emerson can do, had doctors that have fought for him on their side. Little Emerson now has a resume. Assisted Emerson can sit, walk along furniture, and rock back and forth for crawling. Alone he can roll over, all over. Then the jury of doctors had to decide what they were going to do. Only it took them until Thursday to decide. Talk about leaving them/us hanging!

Well they got the call during the funeral (Terra's phone was on vibrate) that Emerson will get the treatment.

He'll get a biopsy, a scan to see if anything has spread and chemo all at the end of this month.

He'll be getting his chemo during flu and cold season. :( He gets sick a lot anyhow. :(

We're all rooting for the little man!

We're talking about how to help with our other nephews. I'm seeing in the future some slumber parties at my house. If you have any kid friendly crafts for two 4 year olds and two 7 year olds, send them my way. We collected pine cones over the weekend. I figured that we can do something with them. I tried looking for acorns, but it wasn't happening. Two parks didn't have any. Life in the Lost World reminded me about Newspaper Hats. We'll do that to!

I wish I could help with taking the boys too and from school. We have issues with that even with our own children. I'm hoping some people are able to help! For now I'm not signing my kids up for one more sporting event for awhile. Family Gym and open swim night will have to do this winter. Mica will still do jujitsu. Swimming lessons and tumbling will pan out until the end of their session, but after that our kids are getting a break from that stuff.

How Do You Remember People?

My Grandma passed away last week. I wrote a post about my memories of her. The good memories. I posted about what I remember before she got sick with Alzheimer's disease. I was hoping some of my family members would read it. I think we got so hung up on taking care of someone that forgot who we even were, we were ready for her to pass. We didn't like seeing her suffer. Remembering her for who she was, is important to me.

As it turns out my Mom wants a copy of my post to be at the funeral tomorrow. My sister Terra added additional memories.

We had to skip out on the wake. The small town has a fall festival going on. Only 5 hotel rooms were available due to a cancellation. My Mom, my Aunts and my cousin coming from a ways away need the rooms. My Grandpa is staying with his brother that lives there. 

My sister Terra reminded me that Grandma always had hard candy that she offered to us in the car.  Her favorites were coffee candy and rootbeer cany.

I bought something I haven't bought in years (hard candy, the coffee kind to be exact) just to bring for the funeral. It's not the same brand that she used to buy. I wasn't going to drive all over town looking for candy. I'll offer one to my cousins. We'll see if they remember Grandma's coffee candy. We're the older cousins, so I'm not sure what the others will remember.

As far as coffee candy goes, people either love it, or hate it. Like I said, I just don't buy that kind of stuff, but I have had it and I love it. Maybe I love it because it reminds me of Grandma. Maybe I loved it as a kid because I felt like a grown up having coffee candy instead of coffee the drink. It was a sophisticated treat for a kid.

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So what do you do to remember people? Do you look at old photos, read old letters, stash thing that they used to have, or something else?