All About Family

           Merry Christmas, ladies and gents!  I hope you all had a great time celebrating with your families and eating lots of food.  Santa was good to me again this year, and I love all of my new fun toys :)  However, this year my Christmas really revolved around spending time with family.  Over the last few months, I've lost my grandma and my grandpa.  This whole thing has been really hard on not only me, but my entire family.  As I've lost my grandparents, some of my family has lost both of their parents.  It doesn't matter how old you are; you're never to old to lose either of your parents, let alone both.

          I'm sure most of you remember my post about what I learned from my grandma.  Something you may not know is that I actually read that at her funeral, with my grandpa sitting right in front of me.  When the time came for my grandpa's funeral; I didn't have anything prepared.  With finals coming up, the unexpected event crushed my writing brain.  Nonetheless, I settled down with a cup of tea at 11pm the night before and wrote this:

            In August I spoke at my grandma’s funeral with my grandpa sitting right there.  I wasn’t originally planning to speak here today, but as writing and speaking are things I’ve always enjoyed; I knew this was the perfect way to show respect for a man who has always supported and loved me.  Two days ago I received a message from a friend, and it read, “I’m so sorry for your loss.”  At the time I didn’t think much of it; it’s a normal sentiment for when someone passes away.  However, yesterday I realized just how wrong that line is for Papa.  We lost Papa physically, but in no way did we lose his dominating presence in this family.  I can see a part of him in most of my family members.  I can see his humor and habit of calling people by the wrong name in my dad, and I can see his huge heart in each of my amazing aunts.  If I had the time I’d be able to find more qualities that he blessed us with, because he truly impacted this family to the point that he will never be gone.

            Out of the countless things I’ve learned from Papa, there are two that have stuck out to me in the last few days.  The number one thing Papa taught me was how to love.  It was no question that Papa loved Grams so much.  He stood by her side through everything.  Even when she didn’t know who he was, he loved her unconditionally.  It makes this whole thing just a little easier knowing that he was reunited with his true love.  Not only did Papa love Grams, he loved his entire family immensely.  During a conversation with my dad yesterday, it came up about how proud Papa was of all of us.  I think I speak for everyone when I say that this whole family together could lead anyone to disownment, but Papa supported each of us in everything he did, and it would have taken a lot worst than us crazy people to diminish his love.

            The other thing I learned from Papa was to always be stubborn.  Out of everything Papa could have given me, I hope I’ve held on to some of his stubbornness.  It’s easy sometimes to just give-up on things like a goal or a dream.  When things get especially hard, the light at the end of the tunnel goes out.  This is when a little bit of stubbornness can go a long way.  If Papa wanted something done, he was gonna get it done.  That’s a mentality we all should have: don’t give up.  Be stubborn, and if you have to: be cranky about it too.

            If you had told me in August that I’d be speaking here today, I wouldn’t have believed you.  Losing two very important people so fast has been rough for our family, but I think I speak for Papa when I say that this should not and will not upset our lives monumentally.  We all have a path set out for us; kind of like a car GPS, but we really don’t know the final destination.  Just like when we drive, we sometimes hit roadblocks or construction along the way and we have to turn-off.  At that time most of you know that your car GPS will start saying ‘recalculating…’  That’s what this is.  We’re still going to get to our target, but we’ll be taking a little different route to get there. Our journeys took a little hit, but we’ll be back on our path when we’re ready.

         I wish you all the best this holiday season, and I your New Year's is fun and safe!  Stay Wonderful!