Goodnight, PawPaw

PawPaw drew his last breath on Monday.  We had family time and funeral service today.  

PawPaw isn't hurting anymore and now he is with my grandma.

I'm really struggling with a lot of feelings right now.  Today, Jordan and I attended the fourth funeral service since November.  

The first was a father the same age as me.  

Then we lost my grandma.  

The young man we said goodbye to last week was only 19 and had just enlisted in the Army.  He had no time, for whatever reason to experience so many things.  

I am thankful that PawPaw was blessed with a long vibrant story.  He impacted the lives of so many people and never met a stranger.  

PawPaw told the same stories over and over, again.  We knew them all by heart.  That was his thing.  

One of the many genetic gifts PawPaw shared with me was stubbornness, and as the eldest grandchild, epic battles ensued from time to time between the two of us.  

When I was probably 5, during a particularly heated discussion .... about what .... I don't know, but I'm sure I was doing something I wasn't suppose to.  PawPaw was getting on to me and I told him I was going to start calling him "PawPaw Poo Poo."  

That did not go over well.  

Being the sensitive child that I was, I used the new name over the next few years to get him good and mad.  Sinister?  You betcha, and it worked every time.  

I was finally scolded for being disrespectful and decided to squelch the name calling.  

Funny thing, though ... after it stopped, he was sad about it.  He started to refer to himself as PawPaw Poo Poo, and sometimes just Poo Poo.  I think he missed the banter.

PawPaw lived his life fully ... he has met 6 of his great-grand-babies.  That makes for a pretty amazing life.

-Carmen      

Property of the Mouse

A good friend of ours recently noted that Holden's shaggy coif makes him look like "Property of Disney."  I thought that was hilarious.... and so true.

Holden went in for a trim last weekend, so here's one last peek at his teeny bopper, boy-bandy 'do.

-Carmen

Closing and other Stuff

It is official! We are homeless.

We closed last Friday on our old house.

I called Jordan later that afternoon and asked if he felt lighter and happier, because I sure did. He also felt a sense of relief. We didn't realize how much worry we devoted to selling the house. We floated along and never really talked about that part.

We are both so glad that chapter is closed.

Things are going ok. We are still adjusting.

Holden was in a super fabulous mood today. It was probably the first day we were completely back on schedule ... his schedule.

I had a rough week physically, last week. For whatever reason, I was extremely sick and became very dehydrated. A trip to the ER and an IV of a couple of bags of fluid perked me right up, though.

Jordan and I have a meeting with an architect/engineer in a couple of weeks to start working on the new house. I can hardly sit still I'm so excited. We have a lot of homework before then ... but it is fun homework.

In an effort to buy Holden's love and affection and perhaps to curb some of the recent and relentless tears, Jordan and I picked out a castle/slide/swing set.

I can feel the love. Can you?




-Carmen