Grandpa

I found out early this morning that my paternal grandfather had passed away. He was 89 years old.

It wasn't shocking since he had been sick for awhile (he was in a persistent vegetative state for about five years or so) and we had an inkling last year that his time was near. Even knowing all of that, I was still surprised to see my youngest brother's email, sent at midnight, breaking the bad news because he didn't want to call and wake anyone up. (I know, what a sweetheart.)

At about 6:15am, I broke down and spent a good five minutes on the bathroom floor crying. I've never had anyone in my immediate family die before. Sure, I've had friends and acquaintances pass; but never family - I have my siblings, my parents and up until yesterday I had both sets of grandparents. I continued to get ready for work and contemplated staying home. I thought about the meetings I'd miss at work and how I would likely spend the day miserable and crying my eyes out. I then thought of my grandpa and how he fought for so long and how we, his family, all held on to hope for so long. How now my aunts and grandmother would have their lives back in sense, as they spent the last five years caring for him at home. I decided to go to work and it helped keep my mind off things. But at the end of the day, the moment I walked through my front door, I cried.

 

Grandma, Grandpa and Jenny at age 2 in Taipei, Taiwan. 

The above picture is about 28 years old. I remember my grandfather fondly... how he and my grandmother would visit every year for a few months when we were growing up. Sometimes they'd come together, sometimes they'd alternate their visits - one grandparent at a time. They both knew how much I loved anything to do with airplanes (just like my dad) and would make sure I got those plastic pilot wings or even just packets of those airplane peanuts (before peanut allergies were an issue). Sometimes those peanuts would be salted and if I was lucky, they'd be honey roasted. Yum!

When my brother Frankie and I were little, we were horrible eaters. We would drag out breakfast forever. I don't understand why we did - it goes against human nature but we did. My mom would start getting angry and would be ready to holler at us. In swooped grandpa and what did he do? He BRIBED us! He offered us each a quarter to finish our breakfast and get off to school. We weren't stupid, we took the deal and gobbled down our breakfasts and we were 25 cents richer.

I have so many wonderful memories of grandpa, but it's so hard to grasp that I'll never see him again and all I now have are pictures and memories.

Grandpa, rest in peace. We love you.

Happy New Year!

I have been really bad at posting lately... probably because it's so much easier to do it on Facebook...

Anyhow, there's been tons of things that have happened - a bunch I can't even recall. We had Halloween, celebrated Thanksgiving, enjoyed Christmas and toasted the New Year.

Most exciting is that I went snowboarding for the first time last week. The hubby, brother, his girlfriend and I headed up to Blue Mountain for most of the day. I spent a couple hours learning the basics on the bunny slope (many falls included, including a hard one right on the tailbone - which btw still hurts). Then for some crazy reason we decided to go up to the top and try a green run. I got on the lift just fine but then totally wiped out getting off and then did a third of the run off the lift and gave up. The mountain was just too high and the runs seemed way too scary. Here are a few pictures of me looking a little cool...

 Learning the basics ... 

 ...still learning...

omg! I am vertical... and I look awesome!

 and... much less awesome now... 

I am pretty sure this is where I fell right on my tailbone

So all in all not a bad end to the year. Hopefully I'll be up to try snowboarding again in January and/or February... must...not...give ... up.

Happy New Year to all!