silentwhisper

Grandpa's wake and funeral went very well, Im too drained from it to really delve into the details (which I may add later) right now, suffice to say he was buried at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery (one for vets which is preserved and watched over), after a small military service, which included 3 rifles volleys and taps (during which I nearly lost it) we have his flag and will build a case for it to display in our home, i also have the shell casings from his rifled salute-

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I can feel that everything I do over the next few weeks with resonate with the memory of my grandfather.
I felt a slight lonely 10 minutes after he'd left this earth, I dont think anyone has ever loved me more or as purely, and he made sure that I know that-

Things he loved that I will be surrounding myself with for awhile:

-Family, he loved his family more than anything, always asked about everyone, constantly, I need to make a better effort to appreciate the ones I have around me.

-Appreciate what I have/the little things, I never once saw him regretful or sad, he never yearned for more "things" he knew what was important in life and material possession / $ was not among them

-Baseball, (specifically the Chicago Cubs, I wish to no end he had seen them go all the way, he deserved that, he loved that team his entire life, and at one point even recieved a letter from them asking him to try out for pitching!)

-Fishing, simply put I will be making fishing trips in the future so I can feel closer to him on those days.

-Foods;
Ice cream and Cookies! Seriously, the man loved chocolate chip and oreo cookies, ice cream was #2
Hot dogs and tacos were favorites, of course he loved a good fish dinner, and more than anything I remember him loving shrimp (Im sooooo ok with all of these as I love them too)

Lastly, he LOVED to hunt, went with cousins and his brothers or any good friend of his as often as he could until the parkinsons disease made it impossible for him to go, I never got into hunting, I dont desire to, but he left me some of his firearms none the less, a couple shotguns and rifles, one particular shotgun is a collectors piece (never used ect), the model is worth about 8 or 9 thousand dollars last he told me, I plan to build a separate case for it and display it on a wall alone. While I dont see myself ever hunting, Im planning to maybe camp more, and hit some trails on a mtn bike/hike, one of his favorite stores was GANDER MTN for gear so I shall go there for mine.

I miss you already grandpa, bless you and I hope I see you again some day.