To Where You Are

"Fly me up to where you are beyond the distant star
I wish upon tonight to see you smile
If only for a while to know you're there
A breath away's not far to where you are."
-Josh Groban, To Where You Are 

I want to take some time to remember a man who helped shape me into the woman I am today.

My grandfather passed away this afternoon. He was, is, and always will be, the smartest person I've know. Life without him is going to be so different. No longer will we have his commentary at family events...his witty remarks, or his vast knowledge of everything.

I've spent a lot of time today remembering things I did with my grandfather. I remember being little and walking with him to the store to get milk and to put mail in the mailbox. Grandad (or as I knew him at the time, Grandaddy) made this walk every day. If I happened to be at my grandparent's house when he did, I went with him. On one of these walks I found a buckeye, and he explained to me what it was and why it was important. I remember picking up several while on our walks to and from the store. (next time I'm home I'm going to dig through my room to see if I still have any of them)

I remember in the spring when the maple trees that surrounded the house would drop all of their seeds...helicopters I called them. My favorite thing would be to throw them up into the air and watch them spin back down to the earth. But these things were EVERYWHERE. They took over the yard and the sidewalk surrounding the house, so Mom and Grandad would go out and sweep them up. I think at one point I got yelled at for throwing a huge handful after they had finished sweeping them up.

Going to visit Granny and Grandad's place during the week meant that I would get to sit in the TV room and watch the news with Grandad. He would talk about what was going on and teach me about it. Either that or we would watch golf. He didn't play golf...but he certainly liked to watch it.

When I was 4 (? maybe) he told me about how he'd been to Hawaii and talked about being on the beach there. He gave me a box full of shells he had collected. I remember pulling them out of my closet all of the time growing up to look at them and sort through them. They were special because he had found them.

I remember saving all of the black jelly beans from Easter because they were licorice flavored and that was his favorite.

I've been remembering things I hadn't thought about in years. The way he would wind up the clock on the fireplace every evening before bed. The funny cards everyone would buy him for his birthdays. Celebrating his birthday at Clifton Beach in Lakewood every year (because it was in August) and being able to play on the playground. The fact that he ALWAYS did the laundry...except he called it the "warsh." His constant bantering with everyone about everything...because that's how you knew he liked you. If he joked around with you, that was a good thing.

I'm sure more memories are going to come to me in the next week or so. I'm sure the rest of the family have memories of their own they want to share. We need to focus on the good times, the fun times...because Grandad wouldn't want us to be sad. He would ask us what we were all being sad for and make a joke about it, and that would be it.

He didn't make it to 100 like he always joked he wanted to, but he got pretty close.

I love you, Grandad. And I'll miss you always <3