Saying goodbye

I have been meaning to write this post for a while. My grandpa Red passed away a couple of weeks ago. He was 91. He was my dad's father. He lived in VT when we were growing up. I remember going to his big house in Manchester and helping make maple syrup in his sugar house, playing on "machine gun" hill, sledding, visiting his pigs and cows, and pancakes and homemade sausage on Sunday mornings. I remember a lot more too of course but those are some of my earliest memories of him. When I graduated from college, he came out to see me in Bellingham. He loved the big tree outside of our apartment and he would talk about it every time I saw him again. Seven years ago he had a stroke that should have killed him but it didn't. He lived through it even though most thought he would not. He lost a lot of speech and movement and he continued to get "better" after the stroke. He was not happy that he could not do the same things. He called himself a grumpy old man. But at Christmas a few years ago when passed some apple pie he said "pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze"! He lived a good long life. I will miss him dearly but I hope he is in a better place now where he can move around and be who he wants to be.

Last summer Corbin got to meet his Great Grandpa Red. Grandpa loved it!

Eliza and I flew to NH for the funeral and to see family. Even though we were there for a sad reason, it was also a happy one. We were also celebrating family and the new life of this little girl named Eliza :-) She got to meet my brother and his fiance Kara, my aunt Joan, my cousin Sarah, my uncle Don, and Aunt Marilyn and a few good friends. Although our trip was short it was good to be with family.

My dad, his sister Joan, and brother Don under the Butternut Tree where we spread some of Grandpa's ashes.

Eliza liked to have a scowl in almost all of her pictures even though she was a stellar traveler.

My great Aunt Marilyn was my grandma's sister and my grandpa's long time companion after my grandma died and my grandpa had his stroke.

Good bye Grandpa Red. We love you.

My thoughts are also with a good friend who lost her mother last week.