Today as I was leaving a campus, my former principal pulled me into her office. She said I needed to wait because Evelyn Reimer was on her way. In my mind Evelyn Reimer is the person who works in Federal Programs – oh crap – who screwed up? was my initial thought. But then it clicked – Evelyn Reimer is also Aunt Evelyn. I told my principal Evelyn Reimer isn’t on her way, my Aunt Evelyn is on HER way – my Granddaddy has passed hasn’t he? I had talked to my dad earlier in the day and I could tell in his voice that he was anxious and frazzled about getting to town to pick up Granddaddy’s medicine, yet I never expected to hear the news I heard just 2 hours later. My Granddaddy lived up to his name with every grandchild, but I must admit that Granddaddy and I were especially close! After my Mimi passed years ago, my cousins had husbands/wives/families to move on with. Granddaddy and I were alone – we kept each other going! I spent every Sunday with Granddaddy for dinner and to do laundry. When I moved to Victoria for college, he went ahead of me to make sure everything was lined out. He would come visit us (my girlfriends and I) while at college often. He made sure everyone’s cars were taken care of, made sure food was in the fridge, and would take us all to dinner.
This past Christmas, Granddaddy expressed a concern that this would be his last holiday with us. We hated hearing that, but still we all knew it very possibly could be. Knowing this, we planned a special dinner with Granddaddy after Christmas. Originally it was going to be all the grandkids and spouses, along with all the great grandkids. Do the math and it quickly reaches near 30 people. Too many for a nice dinner to enjoy a night with Granddaddy so we backed it up to just grandkids and spouses. Well, still quite a few people. For a little background, all the grandkids have not been all together since Mimi passed over 10 years ago! My brother and I decided this dinner really needed to be just Granddaddy with his grandkids. Just the 8 of us and Granddaddy! It was an amazing night. My brother picked him up from my parents while the rest of us meet at the restaurant. Granddaddy knew that he was going to dinner, but he thought it was just my brother and mine’s family – he was SHOCKED that just his grandkids were there. I was so glad that spouses did not come because had they, we would have spoken more with our spouse than our cousins. We were forced to talk to each other. We all talked about current news and quickly turned to reminiscing about our childhoods. We talked about egg hunts at 117 Wisteria with green screen door and shutters, going to the corner store to get Skittles and Starbursts in Granddaddy’s yellow bug. We talked bout the many dogs that did not like the grandkids! We laughed about how you can’t call Granddaddy between 10:00 and 11:00 and 6:30 and 7:00 each weekday. (Known rule – do not interrupt Price Is Right or Wheel of Fortunate). We got a great picture of all of us with Granddaddy – one that we all will cherish!
This past Christmas, Granddaddy expressed a concern that this would be his last holiday with us. We hated hearing that, but still we all knew it very possibly could be. Knowing this, we planned a special dinner with Granddaddy after Christmas. Originally it was going to be all the grandkids and spouses, along with all the great grandkids. Do the math and it quickly reaches near 30 people. Too many for a nice dinner to enjoy a night with Granddaddy so we backed it up to just grandkids and spouses. Well, still quite a few people. For a little background, all the grandkids have not been all together since Mimi passed over 10 years ago! My brother and I decided this dinner really needed to be just Granddaddy with his grandkids. Just the 8 of us and Granddaddy! It was an amazing night. My brother picked him up from my parents while the rest of us meet at the restaurant. Granddaddy knew that he was going to dinner, but he thought it was just my brother and mine’s family – he was SHOCKED that just his grandkids were there. I was so glad that spouses did not come because had they, we would have spoken more with our spouse than our cousins. We were forced to talk to each other. We all talked about current news and quickly turned to reminiscing about our childhoods. We talked about egg hunts at 117 Wisteria with green screen door and shutters, going to the corner store to get Skittles and Starbursts in Granddaddy’s yellow bug. We talked bout the many dogs that did not like the grandkids! We laughed about how you can’t call Granddaddy between 10:00 and 11:00 and 6:30 and 7:00 each weekday. (Known rule – do not interrupt Price Is Right or Wheel of Fortunate). We got a great picture of all of us with Granddaddy – one that we all will cherish!
For many days I would tell my husband, “If I don’t get up” “If I don’t shower” “If…” then all of this isn’t for real. But I know it is and that you were greeted by our Heavenly Father and Mimi! We had a nasty rain storm the morning after Granddaddy passed – my thoughts about that rain storm – Granddaddy and Mimi partied hard after their reunion! Granddaddy I love you and still miss you everyday.
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