Goodbye Grandpa Young

My sweet Grandpa Young said goodbye to us for now on May 6.  I'm so sad that I wasn't able to be there, but the morning he passed away, I was able to talk to him on the phone (I was in Charlotte).  He told me that he was proud of me and that he loved me, but that he wanted to go see his Katie.  It was a conversation I will never forget.

Grandpa didn't suffer one bit.  He passed out the day before because of lack of oxygen, but came to with more oxygen.  Wednesday morning they put him in ICU because his oxygen was so low.  It was such a blessing that my Aunt Leslie was visiting.  Before he passed away, he told everyone how much he loved them, ate dinner, drank a Pepsi and his last words were, "It didn't take the cowboys in the movies this long to die."  He closed his eyes and just like that he was gone.  He had all 10 of his children around him when he passed away.

I have so many memories of my grandpa.  He was always happy, always had a joke and a song.  Grandpa was like the local newsman; he knew everything going on with everyone and reported to everyone.  We never left his house without an ice cream cone, a sucor or two and a "love ya, love ya."

There were so many wonderful stories given at his funeral on Tuesday.  My favorite was one I'd never heard.  My uncle Chris who is rather quiet talked about how Grandpa was one time talking to a stranger.  It was a cold day and the man didn't have a coat.  Grandpa started heading for his car after their conversation, but then turned around, took his coat off and gave it to the man.  Such a Christ like person.  I learned a lesson from this story to give more of myself, to help others, to not judge and to love more.

47 of the 50 Grandchildren were able to attend Grandpa's funeral.  My cousins who live in NYC weren't going to be able to attend the funeral because it is so expensive to fly from NYC to Boise on short notice.  When I was at Laurens house she had a quote in her kitchen that said, "Have I done any good in the world today?"  I immediately started looking at plane tickets, which were rather expensive, but then I looked at how many miles it would take to send my cousins home.  Grandpa would have used his miles to get them home and so I did what Grandpa would do not only because of his example, but also because they needed to be home with our family.  They missed my Grandmas funeral because they had just moved to NYC and I didn't want them to miss Grandpas.  It was fun for them and all of us who saw the video of them surprising their parents when they walked in the door on Mother's Day.

 It was my pleasure to play the organ at the funeral, one that I first practiced on when I was a young girl.  You see, Grandpa and Grandma cleaned the oldest church in Nampa for 7-8 years before retiring.  As kids we were always so excited to help them clean.  It was a beautiful sight from the organ, to see our entire family sitting in the church that Grandma and Grandpa attended for many, many years.

My brothers and cousins wore grandpa's suspenders and some even wore his ties.  What fun it was to see them wearing these.

The day of the funeral was absolutely beautiful. At the cemetery there were flags and servicemen to honor grandpa's service in the navy. 

Just goes to show kids are watching and imitating what we do.

 The church people typically do a luncheon, but my cousin and his friends made us breakfast including pancakes with strawberries and whip cream in honor of Grandpa.  It was awesome.  Funny thing was I told my dad earlier in the week that I thought they should do breakfast for lunch.  It was delicious and I felt that Grandpa and Grandma were there looking over their flock.

5 cousins all born the same year

I love my Aunt Leslie!

We had planned on having a celebration in July for Grandpa's 90th birthday.  We still plan on having it and I look forward to a relaxing weekend where I can visit with my cousins and build relationships with them and I know Grandpa and Grandma will be there in spirit.

Before I flew back to Phoenix I had to stop by grandpa's one last time.  It was sad for me to see the house all picked through from everyone taking what they wanted.  I would have appreciated people to leave things where they were for all of us who were coming from out of town so that we could enjoy grandpa and grandmas house the way remembered it one last time.  I did discover the treasured turkey pot and a few gallons of honey (which Grandpa Young got from Grandpa Randy kind of cool) in the laundry room and my aunt so kindly gave me the candy dish and grandma's jell-o bowl that I had hoped for.  Grandma collected bells and had at least 100 of them.  When I got there only 4 remained.

Yep I even have the candy grandpa kept in the candy dish.

 I did(thanks to my dad wanting nothing else) inherit two mirrors that hung in the bathroom for as long as I can remember.  I will always remember my grandma when I look in them.

Actually my dad wanted the pot, so I left it home.

Grandma and Grandpa had the best back yard with a trampoline, playhouse and swing.  They even had their own vineyard, well it was like one anyways with grapes along the fence.

 I did get to spend a little time with my cute nieces and nephews and I had one of favorite's:  Snow Cones!