Saying Good-Bye

I had a wonderful trip back to Kansas. I drove on Saturday afternoon with my mom and dad. I am glad I could go with them and give my mom a little extra company up front. We stayed overnight somewhere, and made it to my aunt's house by about 3pm on Sunday. Everything kept moving from there on out. We had a time of sharing memories over supper on Sunday night, and watching a great slide show of my grandpa's life my aunt and cousin had put together. Then, Monday, we went for a private viewing of my grandpa. That was hard. No matter how prepared you are to say good-bye, it is always hard to actually do. I am so blessed to know that my grandpa is in a place prepared for him by his Heavenly Father. It is great reassurance and gives me hope in what is to come! In the evening, there was calling hours. It was a time of a lot of laughing. There were a lot of people I didn't know. Since moving to Ohio, we haven't been a part of a HUGE family reunion, so that is more than 20 years of not having seen people. It was neat to watch my dad (and my mom) reconnect with people - friends and family that they were close to for many years. I knew some people from when we lived there and it was good to see them again. It is always a long night when receiving people at calling hours though, so it was good to get some rest that night. The funeral was on Tuesday at 2:30pm. At the service, the my dad and his siblings had a time of sharing their memories of their dad. Then, we grandkids had compiled memories to share about grandpa. It was a neat experience for me to hear what all my cousins picked out because we all had a little different memory that was special to us. I think it gave people a good picture of who my grandpa was. It was about 95F at the burial site - another heat wave for our return to Kansas! My brothers and I hit the road after faspa (zweibach, jello, ham, cheese, and cookies). We stopped at Braums (the best hamburger and ice cream joint in the world!) for ice cream. We stayed at a hotel and left the next morning at 5am. I got home by 3pm. It was fun to be with my siblings in the car; it is not often we are alone without kids anymore... a little like the old days without having to break up wrestling matches in the backseat :) Thanks for all the prayers for travel (30+ hours on the road) and healing.

Just a side note: When my brother was talking to the pastor at my grandpa's church, he said that my grandpa's obituary had more hits online than any other story in the Newton Kansan paper that day. It just reminded me that my grandpa's life must have reached so many.