In Loving Tribute

Yesterday I found out that one of the dearest men in my life is gone. My Grandpa Jamison. Grandpa J was Tim's step-mother's father, but he was like my own Grandpa. He treated me like his own grandkid and loved me as much as I loved him. He died Thursday in his apartment, we are not sure of what. He had not been feeling well and my mother-in-law Laurie was supposed to take him to a doctor's appointment Thursday morning. She kept calling and couldn't reach him which is very unusual, so eventually she sent her brother Steve over, who found him in the bathroom, probably getting ready for a shower. I think it was a heart attack, from the way it sounds. Tim and I will be going to the funeral Sunday at 2pm.
How do you say goodbye so suddenly. How do you let go so fast?? One minute he's here and the next I will never see him again. What's funny is as you read in my previous entries, I had a tough week, but Thursday I was just in the rottenest mood and I couldn't figure out why. I had a feeling I just couldn't shake, now I know why. A lot of times when something happens, my God-given discernment kicks in and I can sense it. It's happened when my two young friends died when I was a teenager, and it's happened when my Grandpa and Brother Gordy from our church died. And it happened when Grandpa J's wife Thelma died. Three years ago they were in a serious car accident, a drunk driver hit them head on, killing Grandma J instantly and leaving Grandpa with a broken hip. He had to lay in a hospital bed for 2 months recuperating, while morning the loss of his wife of over 50 years. It was then that we became so close.
Grandpa loved the Yankees, that's my team. And he never treated me like I didn't know baseball just because I was a woman. As a matter of fact, my last conversation with him was about the acquisition of Johnny Damon, and a new pitcher the Yanks got this off season. Grandpa and I sat thru many a Yankee game together. We talked baseball every time we saw eachother. He always treated me like the fan that I am. When the Yanks won that huge playoff game two years ago against our hated rivals, the Red Sox, Grandpa called me the next day just to ask me if I saw the game. "How'd you like that one Kathy?? I knew you'd be up watching it, that was a great game wasn't it???" We had such a bond. Most people look old people over. Not me. I could talk to Grandpa J all day. He told me all about working on the railroad, about watching Tom Mix in silent films. Which I had asked him if he ever saw silent films in a real silent movie theater cuz that's one of my favorite things, silent films. He looked at me, surprised that I would be interested in something like that. He smiled at the thought of a young person caring about things of the past. He told me he saw Charlie Chaplin too on the silent screen. I told him I was jelous, he just shook his head and laughed. Oh his laugh, and his smile, could spark the most grumpiest of attitudes. Laurie told me that Grandpa had been so happy that I sat and talked with him, she said it meant a lot to him. It meant a lot to me too. I got just as much out of it as he did. The last Yankee game we got to watch alone together will be the most precious time I ever spent with him. Laurie and I had gone to the grocery store to pick up dinner for that night and in the parking lot we saw Grandpa J's car. She said we should see what he was doing and invite him for dinner, which I readily agreed cuz I love him so. We looked thru the whole store and finally found him, on one of the motorized carts, moving along down the isle. He had on his brown sweater....even though it was summer....and his newsboy hat. I will never forget looking at him from that perspective, that photo will remain in my memory forever. We asked him to dinner and he was delighted....he loved me a lot too, every time he saw me his eyes lit up....everyone else even noticed it and would tell me how much Grandpa J loved me. When he came over Laurie was getting dinner ready, and Tim and his dad were upstairs, it was just Grandpa and me, in two arm chairs watching the Yanks. We didn't need to talk, we just sat together, watching the game. I felt the Holy Spirit tell me at the time, "This will be one of your most treasured times with him." And it truly is. I had Grandpa all to myself that day and no one will ever take that away.
I love you Grandpa J. I will never forget you. I will always think of you when I watch the Yankees. I will think of you when I watch silent films. I will think of you when I see a kindly elderly gentleman. I will think of you when I have my first baby and wonder if it would have pleased you to hold him or her. I will think of you at the annual fourth of July party, when we usually watched the Yanks together. I will think of you at Christmas when we are all singing and you aren't there. I will think of you and remember all the times we had together. Some people will look in the obituaries and see your picture and think, "Well that's an elderly man, at least he had a long life....." Not to me....your not just an elderly man whose life was long enough. Your my Grandpa. I can only imagine you and Grandma J up in heaven together.....walking hand in hand....no painful hip, no wrinkles, no sorrow or suffering, no pain or heartache. Someday I will see you again, and when I do, I will be updating you on how my son played for the Yanks, and how my daughter watched silent films with me. Most of all we will worship our Savior together forever. I can' t wait to see you again Grandpa. I love you..........