grandpa pete

A week ago Sunday (17th), my Grandpa Pete passed away. It's one of those times that it's sort of a blessing since he hasn't been doing well for the past year. Even though it kind of felt like we lost Grandpa a while ago, it's still sad that it's final. He just turned 89 the day before he died. I always hate when I read obituaries of people who died one or two days before their next birthday, so I'm glad it was in this order for Grandpa! Plus, I hear he had a pretty good celebration with Grandma and his sister, so that's a nice last memory for them. The service was really, really nice...I usually don't have many feelings one way or another on services, so that says something. The pastor asked me right before the service — and I mean just as the family was gathering to enter the sanctuary — if I would read the grandchildren's memories (the original plan was for the pastor to do it) and I said I would. Even though I didn't make it through without crying, I'm glad he asked me to do it and I did. The family had some good bonding the night before at the funeral home when, after visiting hours were over, Mark broke out a cooler of Schmidt beer in the back of mom and dad's minivan and we all toasted Grandpa. Unfortunately some of the family had already left, so it wasn't all of us, but it was good times. I don't have the group pic, but here's this one.