Remembering Grandpa

This picture was taken in March of 2007, when grandpa was 89 and Will was 8 months old. Very classic grandpa picture. There is a picture of me when I was about that age sitting on grandpa's shoulders in that same chair. Except at that time it was covered in orange leather. Good memories about that chair, and if I ever want to sit in it, it is now in my sister's living room. Us grandkids found it fun to sit in that chair when grandpa hadn't gotten up in the morning yet, or when he had gone to use the washroom. But if we heard his cane clicking on the floor down the hallway you knew it was time to vacate the chair. I don't think I ever got sat on, but I am pretty sure my sister did at one point. Haha :)

We made it to Calgary yesterday by about supper time. It was a relatively uneventful trip. I am not used to being a back seat passenger. I spent the majority of the trip reading my book (The Associate by John Grisham) and let me tell you that passed the time VERY quickly. I think I will save the rest of the book to read on the way home. I am glad I am able to read in a vehicle without getting sick. I think it's because our prairie highways are so straight and flat. A couple of times we went around sharper corners or had to swerve to avoid something and that sure snapped me out of my reading.

Last night we went to Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Bill's house. Uncle Bill is grandpa's youngest brother. (Grandpa was the oldest of four boys, Jim, Tom, Bob and Bill. Bob passed away years ago, Tom is 90 and lives in his house in Vancouver and isn't doing great anymore, so he won't make it for the funeral, and probably shouldn't be on his own anymore, but apparently the Humphreys men possess a gene for stubbornness, haha). Bill and Phyllis are such nice people. They remind me very much of my grandma and grandpa. I believe Bill is 82 and he is still doing really well (he had both hips replaced a couple of years ago). We had a nice time visiting and reminiscing about grandpa and grandma, as well as my mom's grandparents and great grandparents. Uncle Bill had some interesting stories to share about grandpa's health problems and surgeries. He went through a lot, but I really think Grandpa was a fighter.

The last roommate grandpa had before he passed away was named Gus. He was a very grumpy/complainy man. He lodged a number of formal complaints that grandpa was too loud and disruptive to him. Which of course is completely ludicrous. Grandpa had a pretty good sense of humour and Aunt Phyllis was saying that one time when she went to visit him that he kept telling her that she would have to come closer and closer and finally when she was about six inches from him he said, "Okay now we can visit without disturbing Gus."

Last night wasn't a time for shedding tears, but we had a lot of good laughs. Not that I won't miss grandpa, but he really did live a long full life. He will be remembered with a lot of fondness by a lot of people. I am sure there will be a lot of raw emotions floating around tomorrow at the funeral. I am okay with that though. I think I have been to enough (too many) funerals in the last five years, to know that they are a good thing. A place to mourn and find some form of closure. I am sad when I think that I no longer have any living grandparents. When Jay and I got married five years ago, I had three surviving grandparents and he had two. Now neither of us have any. I have some aunts and uncles that feel a little like another set of grandparents to me, and I sure cherish times like last night vising with Uncle Bill and Aunt Phyllis. I really like Uncle Tom too, and am sort of sad to hear that he hasn't been doing so well. But at age 90, that seems to start happening.

Well I should get ready to start my day. Not sure what is on the agenda for today, other than going out for supper with Aunt Allison and my cousin Stephen. Last night was the first time I have stayed in a hotel by myself and I did not sleep very well. Not that I was nervous, I just probably woke up once every hour or so. However I was glad to find a fan setting on the A/C unit that helped to drown out my neighbour's coughing and the vehicles driving by outside.