Reunion at last...

My Grandpa passed away on April 8th.  Friends and family were worried about how I would take it... since it was my birthday.... but that never bothered me a bit.  I was happy that his pain had ended, he could once again walk unassisted, hear clearly, and see his wife and three oldest daughters greet him at the gates of Heaven!  If nothing else, it gives me a lasting tie to a really great guy. 

Grandpa called me Elaine.  With all the grandkids that he had... you wouldn't be surprised if he got a name wrong here or there... but he called me Elaine because he thought that I look like Julia Louis Dreyfus on Seinfeld.  He told me I just wasn't allowed to call him Krammer.  I LOVED that.  I loved that he said he got to see me every night on tv.  I loved the fact that my 93 year old grandpa watched Seinfeld. 

The funeral was hard, but for so many other reasons.  It was hard because I fear that it might be one of the last times our whole family gets together.  With our lives all as busy as they are... it's hard to all get together... but we did it for Grandpa.  But it was especially hard to see all the pictures of my mom.  In ALL the pictures... she was smiling like crazy.  She was ALWAYS happiest when she was with her family... so the pictures reflected that.  It was hard to be there and not have my mom there to lean on.  It was hard to see all those same people again so soon who loved my Mom.  Mom was just like Grandpa... she kept the family together. 

On the day that we got married, Grandpa was at Mom and Dad's house while I was getting ready.  I wish I had had a video camera... or a tape recorder... because Grandpa sang me a song that day.  I can't remember all the words... but it basically went along the lines of

"She's getting married, she looks pretty... I hope they hurry up before he changes his mind...."  and then he giggled.  He thought he was pretty darn funny... and so did I!

I'm sure once he got to Heaven, those women started fussing over him... getting him food.... making sure he was wearing what they thought he should be wearing....

Or just checking to make sure he was doing ok.