Happy New Year! Well, I guess this is bit late for that, but this week started off the new semester, and was full of unexpected events in these short three days. Tuesday classes were cancelled due to severe cold weather. Yes. That's a real thing. And I moved 2000 miles from home to live in a place where that actually happens. Why? No one knows. I guess it was the adventure available to me at the time. Which honestly turned out to be a wonderful decision for many reasons, but I'll save that for another day. Unfortunately, on Tuesday, I also found out my Grandpa had passed away. While it is a sad and hard time, it was reassuring to see him while I was home on break, knowing that he wasn't in much pain, and was spending time with his kids and grandkids. It's incredible to imagine the wonderful family he and my grandma created. Their house was always a place I loved to visit. The warmth and love that came from their house was amazing, and I'm so thankful for all the lessons I learned not only from my grandparents, but those lessons learned from my dad and his siblings. My grandpa grew up in a tiny town in Minnesota, with several siblings (6 I think, but I could be wrong). When he was 14, he and his friend Shaq saved up money from their paper route, $26, and decided it was time to move out to Oregon. This was during the Depression, and they both were looking for work. If I remember correctly, they each had a small sack of their belongings, the clothes on their backs, and $26. It wasn't much, but they were determined to move out West. They hitch-hiked their way across those 1600 miles. At one point, they couldn't hitch a ride with a driver, so they talked to a local in one of the towns about the train that ran through the town. They were informed that in the middle of the night, a train would come and hook up to one of the boxcars on the track, and head out West with it. Logically, they hoped in that boxcar and waited for the train to come, and take them out West. Easy enough. They sat in the boxcar, waiting for hours, until finally, they heard the train coming. As their excitement built, they heard the train come to a rough stop, crashing and wobbling their boxcar. This was it. Their easy ticket out West. As they heard the train starting up again, and getting ready to leave, they couldn't wait to be on their way. Then they heard the sounds of the train start to get quieter. And quieter. Until there was almost no sound at all. Bewildered, Shaq stuck his out of the boxcar, and off in the distance, the train was heading out West without them. Frustrated, they had to wait and hitch a ride with another gentleman, who took them the majority of the trip. Once they got to Portland, Shaq went to work in the shipyards, but grandpa wasn't old enough so he moved out towards the Newberg area and worked in a rural area for six months before he went to work in the shipyards. He eventually met grandma in Portland, where they were married and had 6 kids. Grandpa owned several stores and a hotel in Seaside. Grandpa was a lover of sports. Any sport. All sports. He was a golfer and unreal card-player (I couldn't tell you how much money I lost to him playing cards). He was a patient teacher, always telling me how to improve my card-game, but never going easy on me. He also made amazing oatmeal cookies. That always seemed like a random hidden talent of his, to me. But he also was one of my number one sports fans growing up. Although he didn't make it to every game, I remember always being so excited about the games he came to. Whether it was basketball or volleyball, it didn't matter. I loved how excited he seemed to get about even my CYO games. I will never forget the times when he and my dad's sister Teri drove all the way to Eugene to see me play at state for volleyball. Grandpa also used to have the best looking lawn in the entire state. It was incredible. Grandpa always seemed to have a sense of humor about everything too. I can't remember a time I visited him where we didn't joke about something. Even during the last few weeks I saw him, we always had a couple laughs. He will be greatly missed, but I know that he taught me about life, and those things will be with me forever.
It's funny living in Wisconsin though, because I've realized in living here, that some of the things my family said or did that people thought were different or weird growing up, are pretty much all Midwest things. I constantly find myself realizing I've got more Midwest in me than I realized. It's a pretty cool feeling though, like I'm finding my roots. In seeing Grandpa while I was home, I realized that it really is possible to live a life so that when you get to the end, you can see all the beauty and good that came from your life, and be content with the life you led. In talking with Grandpa, it seemed like he really was happy with how his life had gone, and I'm thankful that we all were able to spend time with him. I can only hope we all live our lives in a way that we are happy with them by the end.
I'm so thankful for the family I've been given, and although the circumstances won't be great, I am glad I'm getting the chance to be home for the funeral, and spend time with everyone.
I guess this post was less about keeping people posted, but more to come in upcoming weeks. Until then, friends, stay classy.
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