The people that got us through

As of 10:27 pm we have 664 hits. I won't do a state by state update until tomorrow.

I will say we did get out of the house for dinner this evening. It was planned last week as a celebratory dinner with Kathou and Paypay, but unfortunately we didn't have much to celebrate. What we did celebrate is that the restaurant we went to had fantabulous drinks! 2 Vodka Collins, 2 glasses of wine and 2 glasses of port is enough to make anyone celebrate. Needless to say a good time was had by all.

I would like to shift gears for a moment though. Our phone did ring at about 10:00 tonight. For a brief moment we were all excited. But, the excitement was not to last. It was my Mom. She informed me that my Tiny Papa (aka: Great-Grandfather) was very sick and likely to not make it through the night. Of course Kathou and Paypay were here and rather than sit around and cry about it I told them about my Tiny Papa. I pulled out the photo album to show them photos. About 20 minutes later the phone rang again. This time we knew who it would be. My Tiny Papa passed slowly into the night, surrounded by his family. He was 97 years old (i think).

While I am saddened by his loss I cannot help but think about the joy he has brought me over the years. There aren't many people who could say they actually knew one, or more, of their great-grandparents. In the end I think Tiny Papa stood all of about 5 feet tall. In his younger years he was a boxer and worked on the railroad in Everett, WA. Quite the barrel shaped man and in full control of his mind until very recently. He love to play checkers and his favorite Christmas gift was always a bottle of Scotch. Good man. My fondest memory of him was his basement in their house in Everett. Tiny Papa was an inventor. He was forever modifying something to make life easier. His greatest "invention" was the exercise bike sander. He somehow rigged a stationary bike with a block of wood under it that slid back and forth. You put whatever you wanted to sand under the block and start riding. WaLa! Sanding done. And you get your workout in too. He was handy like that.

I could tell you so many stories about Tiny Papa. His love for his beautiful wife. How he'd jingle his pocket and slip my cousins Zach and Tyler money. How he always knew CS's name. He was a great man who lived a long and great life.

So no boo hoo here either. I don't believe death is something where we mourn someone's loss. It is more of a time to celebrate their life and come to realize how much they really mean to us. How this one life impacted our own. So we'll have a Coffee Talk discussion.

Topic:
Did you ever know any of your Great-Grandparents. If so what did they mean to you. If not tell us about a relative who impacted your life for the better.