Happy Birthday Pop Pop

 Happy 70th Birthday Danimal.  You were always there for my all my major up or downs as a kid.  You were there the day I got 3 hair cuts.  You were sitting next to me when I caught my first foul ball at a Sox game (Thanks for 19 years of misery after 1 fleeting moment as a Southside fan).  You were beside me during my Eagle Court of Honor, and multiple graduations.  You were by my side for my wedding, and the birth of your grand daughters.  You also held me as high as you could at some less celebratory events.

Happy 70th, Pop Pop.  You have been the best role model for me as a dad.  You have always been there for me, and you have always been there for Hannah and Audrey.   You have always been our "Ride or Die," always going on vacation with us, and making sure Amanda and I weren't numerically outmanned.  We had fun on all the trips you went with us, but there was something special about that South Dakota trip (and I am not talking about you giving Mandy and I COVID :()  Before I had a family, you doted upon me and we took guys trips to Cooperstown and DC.  You took me everywhere.


When Audrey was born (and for 5 years after), you always sang "Hey Audrey Ann" to your baby granddaughter.  That constant connection to you led Audrey to always crave time with Pop Pop.

When Audrey heard "Pop Pop" she would run to the door to see you.  Hannah sometimes may have waning enthusiasm, but she still loves Grandpa Pop Pop so much.

You were always right there.  Somehow, it felt like you took 5 minutes to drive to be by Audrey's side when I called you in August, even though you are the slowest driver in the world.

Over the last 19 months you have still been there for me.  I haven't always been the most reciprocal, and often times you weathered my moodiness and crabbiness.  When I had some health scares last year, you were always there for me.  Even when you just got home from my place, you drove back to drive me to the hospital so Hannah wouldn't have to wake up and spend time in the ER before a school day.

You drove an hour just to make sure I would make it to work and carted around Hannah and I so Hannah could make it soccer practice.  I wasn't late or missed a single day of work while I was on driving restrictions for some medical concerns.

You have given me a sense of optimism in a world that doesn't breed that.  I guess being a Sox fan and Bears fan will force you to do that.

There is no possible way in the world that I even begin to repay all you have done for me.  I will try repaying you by applying the lessons you taught me while I parent Hannah here on earth and and Audrey in heaven.

GO BEARS

Your loving son




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The last first? Sometimes the second is harder than the first.

Image
I started writing this post on Monday July 15th after experiencing many firsts and seconds on as we approach the anniversary of Audrey leaving for heaven.   This post took me over three weeks to write.  I had to think about why it took so long and the truth is, I am not on the same calendar that I used to be. I knew the fourth of July was going to be hard.  Audrey loved the fourth.  On social media, Mandy posted pictures of Audrey enjoying all of her summer favorites.  From June 26th to July 4th, Mandy posted a different picture of Audrey's summer favorites.  Starting on July 1st, she posted a daily picture of Audrey loving the fourth of July. Those pictures meant a lot and meant a lot to see Audrey's loved ones interact and share summer memories.  When Mandy took Hannah to the bathroom, I looked to my phone to look at pictures of Audrey.  I was surprised when I found this picture. This picture made me smile for many reasons 1. It encapsulate...
Read more

It Doesn’t Get Any Easier (Amanda's)

Image
  When we first lost Audrey, people often said, or we read in grief books, how in child loss it doesn’t get any easier. There was always some variation of:  It’s hard to know what “it doesn’t really ever get any easier” means when you’re first in the throws of it though, and the shock is so intense. I’ve also come to understand that for me, personally, the shock has been profound and longer lasting than for some others. 15 months in, it’s still really hard for me to grasp most days that Audrey is gone, and that it’s permanent. But it truly isn’t any easier than it was in those first weeks. Which is really hard to fathom if you think about it- How can our world still be as rocked and shaken as it was then, how can this still be as painful and sad and traumatic as then?- Yet it still is. The sadness seems only to grow deeper and the fullness of missing all of who Audrey is continues to grow in our lives. Our family wasn’t complete before she came into our lives, and now we a...
Read more

(Amanda's) Disorganized Thoughts- Approaching One Year

Image
I can’t believe it’s almost been a year without Audrey. I’ve tried several times in the past year to write, but I can never quite put my thoughts together into anything coherent to share. Many of you that are closest to me have listened to me attempt to share about grief in the past year- I appreciate your patience and understanding as I ramble on, sometimes with emotion and sometimes without, tend to ruminate over the same thoughts again and again, and try to capture the ways that I am missing Audrey, which are so hard to convey into words. I find the sadness becoming heavier again as the anniversary approaches. I try to focus on what my faith says is true about where Audrey is now and about how God loves and holds her, but the sadness and trauma of the events replay often. The natural rhythms of events that recur annually feel like counting down this year, reliving and replaying our ‘last’ of whichever special time it was with Audrey, leading up to August 7 th -10 th , and what...
Read more