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