Family

Well, unfortunately Chandler's great grandpa Bill died this past week on Wednesday. He was 87 years old and lived a long happy life. It was his time though, he had dementia and health issues and alot of the time we felt like we were looking at a hollow shell. He'll be missed but everyone was prepared for it so it wasn't as sad as it could have been, although its never easy to lose a loved one.
Chandler's great Aunt and Uncle are here from Texas for the funeral and I'm happy they are here. They are so much fun! We went to Park City yesterday and all the kids (Emon, Isha, Kareem, and Reese) and Chandler, Terry and Kary went on the Alpine Slide and Heather, Bubbly, Brigette, Jadine and I went to the Baja Cantina and had drinks and chips and salsa. It was definitely a great day. Then we went to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and got yummy caramel apples and delicious chocolate covered pretzles. All in all it was an awesome day, plus I had the day off work and school which hardly ever happens so that was definitely a welcome break.
With Chandler's grandpa passing it makes me think of my grandpa passing about 8 years ago and how much I really still miss him. It feels like its been forever since I've seen him but at the same time it feels like just yesterday we were playing back in the fields and sliding off the roof. I never thought those days would end. My life is so different now its hard to think that it was once that easy. I still remember certain things about his funeral, but the thing that I hope I never forget is the 21 gun salute that they did for him because he fought in WW2. I kept it together for most of the funeral thinking about how he was with my grandma and he was happier and trying not to think about how much I would miss him but when they shot off those guns that I'd watched with him every memorial day and watched him cry at every year I couldn't hold it in. I just cried and cried, I have the shell to one of the bullets from his funeral.
I never realized until I met Chandler how important your family was. I always thought my best friends from high school would be the people I was friends with for the rest of my life and that we would always stay close and they would be my "family" in a way. I haven't hung out with anyone I went to high school in about 2 years and sadly I don't really miss it. I miss certain people somedays but I changed and so did they. I just didn't get that your family is the ones at the end of the day that are there for you and really really do want whats best for you and for you to be happy. I'm sad that it took me so long to figure that out and I had to really hurt my parents in the process but at the end of the day, I learned it, and it worked for me.