In Mourning

This has been an amazingly tragic week for my family. We lost two of our men within only a few short days of each other.

My aunt Colynn's husband, Bill (I guess that would make him an uncle to me) left us first, around 12:35 am Tuesday morning. He had his wife (my aunt) on one side of him stroking his hair and telling him how much she loved him, and his kids on the other side also expressing their love and pride in his strength. He took a few breaths and then went peacefully.

Grandpa went tonight, around 9:30 pm. He'd been surrounded by his family for quite some time, just the way he always liked it. When he drew his last breaths, he had his mother (my 97 year old great-grandmother) holding onto one hand, his wife of 53 years holding the other, and his kids surrounding his bed. He kept holding on, as if waiting, until finally Grandma laid down on the bed beside him and put her head on his shoulder. And that seemed to be what he was waiting for.

I wasn't at either man's final breath, but I had been with Grandpa until just before. When we realized it was close and that my youngest cousin didn't seem to be doing well being there, Colynn and I decided to take Denny home. I went over to Grandpa, kissed him on the forehead as I always did, and told him what was going on. "Colynn and I are going to take Denny home real quick." I said. "We'll be back very shortly. But if you go before we get back, it'll be okay. We won't be angry." (We were all worried that he was fighting to remain for our sake). We weren't even gone 15 minutes before we got the call....

It seems unfair to have to lose two of the greatest guys ever in the same week. I had barely begun processing and accepting Bill's death and now I have to deal with my grandpa too. They both happened so quickly that we barely had time to see it coming.

Since I'm still in the shocked, unbelieving stage, I don't really have much to share. I'm going through my pictures and searching the recesses of my memories for tales to tell of these wonderful men, but it's going to take a little time before I put anything up about it all. But I thought it only fair to share with my readers what's been going on, in case there is an extended silence on my end. I apologize in advance for the sadness that will most likely be filling my next few blogs. And I promise, next time I'll share with you how truely wonderful these men really were.