My final day

It was Thursday, too soon.  My final day with Grandpa.  I had to get up and be on the road by 4:00 am the next morning to make my flight from Madison.  We could feel the sadness in the air.  Kind of a great big elephant in the room that everyone pretended was not there so we would not have to talk about it.

I spent the day doing follow up with Grandpa to ensure he knew where all the food was at.  Asking him about a thousand times if he needed anything, and still not believing him when he said "no".  Grandpa was just fine, and he really needed nothing from me but my company.  My work was done for the time being, and all was set in place.

Later, after chores, I spent some time introducing my Uncle Mark to iTunes, Ipod, and external hard drive.  This, by far was the most in-depth conversation I had on my trip.  After all was said and done, I still can not say if he understood, but at least he has a functional ipod for the time being.  Welcome to the future Uncle Mark!  I hope you enjoy it!!!!

I spent the evening with a few relatives, and then finally with just Grandpa.  We sat in the kitchen and discussed his life so far.  He told me how proud he was when he looked back on his life.  "I would not change a single thing" he said.  He had married the love of his life, never cheated or treated her as anything less then his perfect match, and together they built a wonderful life together.  He explained that even though hind sight is 20/20, any small differences in the path he chose would have completely changed the outcome.  He was satisfied with the story that described his life, and nothing could change that.  He was happy, cared for, and unfortunately a little lonely.  When his soul mate moved to the next realm, he was left half a man.  No matter how hard I try, I can not change that.

I awoke at 3:00 am Friday morning.  I packed up slowly, dreading the moment I would pull out of the driveway.  I stood in the kitchen when there was nothing left for me to do, and closed my eyes.  The sounds, the smells, the feeling of Grandpas house had to be put to memory as I did not know if it would ever be the same for me.  I took it all in, inhaled one last deep breath, and stepped out the door.

My favorite line from a movie comes from Steal Magnolia's.  This line is the only way to describe my two and a half hour drive to Madison to leave Wisconsin.  The line?  "Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion!"