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Thursday, July 14, 2011

The Tenth Good Thing About Grandpa

My grandpa died on Wednesday.
I am very sad.

I cried, and I sat on the couch with the TV on,
but I didn't watch it.
I cried, and I ate cookies and milk. 
I cried, and ignored the person knocking on my door. 
I went to bed, and I cried.

My mother sent me a text message saying that he is happy now.  And she is right.
You see my grandpa had cancer.
Cancer hurts and it makes wonderful people into helpless people hoping they don't wake up in the morning.  Pancreatic cancer always wins (my ma also said that to me in a text message).

I LOVE books - especially children's books.  Children's books have a way of saying things.  Children's books can explain hard things - like death to children in a way that is . . . amazing. The Tenth Good Thing About Barney by Judith Viorst; it is a book about a boy whose cat Barney dies.  He is sad but his family has a funeral for Barney and his mother tells him to think of 10 good things about Barney to tell at the funeral.  He can only think of 9.  He said he would try to think of another one later.  He spends the day in the garden with his father and he thinks of the last - a pretty good job for a cat.  It is a great book.  It was nice to read it again and especially great that I finally got the book from an amazing person (thanks Susan) last week. 

Children's books also offer a great inspiration for writing.  The first part of this post was inspired by The Tenth Book Thing About Barney, and here are my ten good things, in the same style, about grandpa: 

Grandpa was smart, really smart.
And handsome and funny and brave.
Also dependable and organized and his head was shaped like an egg.
It was nice, to have him give me advice about taxes or retirement. 
And sometimes he would pretend that he couldn't hear - even though we all knew he had 'selective hearing.'  He would smile and we all knew he could but we pretended just for him.

And now grandpa is in the ground with grandma helping to grow flowers - and you know, that is a pretty nice job for a person.

6 comments:

Katie said...

Sympathies to you. My 86 year old grandpa is still a very important person in my daily life. I absolutely love the style and what you shared about your grandpa. Blessings.
Katie

judi @ farmnwife said...

Such a sad time and a tough one to get thru.

simplysouthern said...

Sending prayers your way - the death of a grandparent is so difficult. I hate to hear that it was pancreatic cancer - we've had it take those in our family & it's extremely painful when it does always seem "to win". But I love your post & how you seem to be choosing to be blessed by all the ways he was good to you. Hold on to those memories - it's those that pull you through. Sympathies to all.

Anna said...

Praying for peace for you and your family.

Robyn said...

Sarah
I am sorry to hear about your loss. It is always hard to lose someone you love.

You are right; cancer turns wonderful people into helpless people. Your Grandpa no longer has cancer or pain.

Yesterday was the Anniversary of my Grandpa's birthday. Even though he has been gone for over 7 years, we still love and miss him.

Prayers to your family.

colleen said...

Sarah, just lost my 86 year old grandma on July 6. I know exactly what you are dealing with. It hurts so much but I know she has no pain anymore and is with the many family and friends who went before her. I am sending you prayers your way.
Colleen

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