Grampy Rock

One of the many reasons I have not been writing as much was because of Grampy Rock.  Jynx sat down after his passing and wrote a beautiful tribute to her father. 

 

Dad came home last Sunday night and Jame Jack immediately went up to his bed and climbed the rails and said, "I love you Grampy and I missed you".  My Dad smiled at him and tried to put his hand on Jame but was weak.  He also saw his pretty girl Hope Rose as I held her above him on his bed. He looked at her and smiled and tried to wave to her. Fortunately, when Dad was home a couple weeks earlier, we had wheeled him into see our sister Jame and although he was weak, he said faintly “Hi Pretty Girl”.  I have to admit, I was very proud of the fact that there were 2 pretty girls in the house. Dad did have a song for my sister Jame which was Jame Jame Jame, I love youuuuuu, Jame Jame Jame, yes I dooooo. If you listened to the tune you would think it was catchy.

Unfortunately we had to take Dad back to the hospital the very next morning; he spiked a fever that we could not bring down. Dad was diagnosed with sepsis in the ER from a UTI and pneumonia again.

 

Although he wanted to stay with us he got tired and left us on Tuesday March 19^th at 2:57pm.  While my Mom, Jeaj and I were with him, my Mom told me how he never thought that he would be a Grandfather.  My Dad told me we had a million dollar combination when Hope Rose graced our lives because we now had a boy and a girl.

Jame Jack sat in Grampy’s lap quite often and Dad would read to him.  Hope Rose was held by Grampy a bit and she sat next to him in her jumping Jenny just smiling at him and him at her.  We all will make sure my kids remember their Grampy Rock. We feel so blessed to have had our father in our life for as long as we did and I know he lived a good long life but for us it is never enough. I guess I am a bit selfish for myself, Jame Jack and Hope Rose that I wanted our time to be longer together.

Dad was all about his family, so strong, loving, and always seem to be the voice of reason.  I was so proud of him especially through his last 2 years of life. He dealt with quite a bit of pain and never complained. My Dad was always liked by everyone and loved by many. He did not have a pretentious bone in his body, he was not a vain man and he was the most honest and fairest person I ever knew.  Dad loved songs like “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”, “Danny Boy”, and Mom and Dad’s song was “Unforgettable”. Many did not know that Dad had a pretty nice singing voice.     

         

Dad liked the simple things in life. Dad was not one to go out much and I remember when Jame was younger, she had a convulsion at Disney World so he stayed with her while Mom took Jeaj and me through the park. Dad never did get back to Disney World, yet we went many times when we vacationed in Florida. He loved watching his sports which was just about every sport you can imagine from football to tennis and hockey to gymnastics.  He loved horse racing as well. Dad always amazed people on the stats of so many sports that he had in his head. He knew what colleges athletes came from and what draft pick they were. Dad could also add large odd numbers in his head where many would have to write the numbers on paper and add them together or use a calculator; he would have the answer before you had it with a calculator.

The only sports he didn’t watch were kick boxing, professional wrestling and NASCAR.  He helped care for my sister Jame for about 36 years until he needed help and could no longer care for her; he was our provider and worked very hard for his family. Only a Great Man could do what he did.

 When he retired, he was a putzer doing little things around the house and sometimes even trying to re invent the wheel and giving us all a good laugh.  One of his favorite jobs was burning leaves and our paper garbage.  I can remember him raking some leaves together and then lighting them all the while dragging a lawn chair around the yard to sit and watch the fire he created and then do the same thing over again in a different spot. Mom got annoyed at this because every fall we would have burn spots all through the yard.  By spring, the spots would be good as new and if you added a little grass seed they would be even better.

The best thing that happened for me was that my entire family was under one roof and although many might say that’s crazy, we simply said you do whatever you can for the ones you love and you forget about all the trivial things like your house not being exactly the way you want it to be. I personally feel that my relationship with my Dad grew so much stronger the last few years of his life and I know for my sister and I that we will be eternally grateful to our Dad that he let us care for him especially when we did not always get things right.  He knew we were trying and that was good enough for him.

 We feel blessed that we have always been able to talk to our parents and so there was nothing left unsaid. Thank you for all your prayers, positive energy, and happy dances. Our whole family has been helped tremendously. We love you Dad, Grampy, Rock, Jimmy, and Jim Dear. You are in our hearts always!!!

Celtic Blessing

May the roads rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rain fall soft upon your fields
And, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

Anon

  He is not lost our dearest love,
nor has he travelled far,
just stepped inside home's loveliest room
and left the door ajar.