I have the best family and friends
My grandfather, my mother's father, died this past Saturday from acute respitory failure. He had emphysema, and we'd known for months that he could have died at any time. Even so, I wasn't expecting him to die last weekend. I'd been planning on going over to their house on Sunday as I normally do, to bring him and my grandmother Holy Communion. He died around 12:30 Saturday morning, and my mother called me as soon as they called her. I was glad that she called me. Somehow, sleep makes it easier to face sorrow.
All of my family came in for the funeral. My grandmother has 6 children, and 22 grandchildren (including me). We don't get the entire family together at once very much anymore because over half of my cousins are going to college or have graudated from college and are working. A lot of my grandmother's sisters and brothers and their families came from Erie, PA as well, so there were also a lot of relatives who I wouldn't know if I passed them on the street. My family mostly Irish and German in ancestry, and while we don't have a lot of traditions from our heritage, we do all have the Irish trait of being able to laugh at funerals. We spent less time mourning my grandfather and more time celebrating his life. We spent a lot of time hugging, and probably spent more time laughing together than crying together.
Other people might have been shocked to see us sitting around visiting, and laughing, but Grandpa wouldn't want us to just cry all the time. He was happiest when we were visiting him, even when he was too tired to talk, he would just sit there and smile as we all made jokes and told anecdotes. I'm glad that we had the chance to say goodbye. I'll miss him, but I am still blessed with an abundance of wonderful relatives.