"Life and Times of Magoo: The People's Champ" (magooslaststand)
04/03/2014 at 00:19 • Filed to: None
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"Life and Times of Magoo: The People's Champ" (magooslaststand)
04/03/2014 at 00:19 • Filed to: None | 5
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Found out Monday after work that my Grandpa died. He lost his marbles if you will years ago. I think it's been over a decade since I saw him. When I was in that neck of the woods 2 years ago my Dad told me it was better to hold onto my memories then to see him in his current state.
He wasn't just some one I had a relationship to. He was someone I did shit with. Things my Grandpa enjoyed are a large part of who I am now ( camping, racing, wood working). Just turns out he passed away a week before my wedding and I can't afford to basically be off the whole damn month. So I'm missing the one funeral I thought I would never miss. He fixed his own shit, he made his own way, he built his own house. Appreciate the time you have with those you truly love spending time with.
He gave me a love of working with my hands and working outdoors, his brother loved and restored Studabakers. There's nothing prettier then a fresh restoration.
RIP Grandpa Carter.
ttyymmnn
> Life and Times of Magoo: The People's Champ
04/03/2014 at 00:33 |
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RIP indeed. My condolences.
NotUnlessRoundIsFunny
> Life and Times of Magoo: The People's Champ
04/03/2014 at 00:36 |
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Seriously, sorry for your loss. You're right, appreciate the time you have with those you love. And Grandparents are special.
interrogator-chaplain
> Life and Times of Magoo: The People's Champ
04/03/2014 at 00:52 |
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I've been there, my Grandma moved down to our city for about the last five or six years of her life, it started off independent, then semi-assisted and for a while it worked out. One night she wandered off in the middle of a sub-zero night in her evening gown, where she was luckily spotted by the security guard at the assisted living center. She'd been developing dementia for some time and after that night it was less than a week before she was moved into the dementia ward at the old age home where my father works. (We were very fortunate that my dad is well placed and that she and my, thankfully, still living nonna currently reside and they're both well cared for.) I never saw her once after that point. A few months before she passed, my dad told me his coping strategy in that the woman she once knew as his mother died a long time ago and that out of love he was caring for the person that now shared her body.
I'm glad that I didn't, there's no way I could reconcile the graceful woman who woke us up on Christmas morning in 1994 with the scent of delicious (Honestly, diabetes inducing.) chocolate chip cookies, with the person who was apparently still my Grandma.
I've always hated funerals, it's not how I deal with death. I have a hard time believing anything good can come from me seeing the dead body of someone I love. A grave, sure. An urn, a little less, but okay. But the actual body? No. Can't do it. I refuse to let that be the last memory of a person I know and love, if I can help it.
It's tough now, there's no getting over that. Will the pain lessen over time, I can't tell you if it will for you. But you got to know him, and he loved you. He shared his passions with you, and you received them and nurtured them. It's what anybody would want, to leave a mark on someone so profound that it changes their lives for the better. He lives on in the things that you do. Just keep remembering the good times.
Hope things get better for you. He sounds like a fantastic guy and I'm sorry he's gone.
Icemanmaybeirunoutofthetalents
> Life and Times of Magoo: The People's Champ
04/03/2014 at 01:01 |
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Its always tough when someone we love so dearly passes on. In my view, we do a little justice to our shared times and experiences and love by passing it on to another generation. Share the same love, affection, spirit with someone of the next generation and make more wonderful memories for someone little who may fondly recollect them when we're old.
Montalvo
> Life and Times of Magoo: The People's Champ
04/03/2014 at 01:19 |
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That is rough... I unfortunately missed 2 funerals, both were grandparents on my mom's side, I will never feel alright with that. Your father is right when he says hold onto a memory that is untouched by sickness both mental and physical. I will never forget the last time I saw my grandpa, I tried to keep a smile and a straight face in his room which would eventually be his hospice. When I left I completely broke down. It is unsettling to see someone once so strong get so beaten down. It absolutely kills me because I was never able to truly say goodbye. Someday I will head back down to Puerto Rico where they both are and pay my final respects. It always makes me laugh a little bit thinking about all my memories with him and stories he told me. I rarely was able to see him but I held every single second extremely dear. The part that will always stick with me is that he wanted a son, he never got one but he did get 8 daughters. What kind of luck is that? Glad he had that stubborn head strength and decided to go to 8 otherwise I wouldn't be here. I look to my family's past as a motivation to push towards a greater future, both sides started out in a literal one room shack, now I am close to getting a college degree in Mechanical Engineering. I may stumble on my way through life but God dammit am I going to claw for every bit of ground that I can get, I owe that much to my parents and grandparents.
twochevrons
> Life and Times of Magoo: The People's Champ
04/03/2014 at 09:15 |
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Sorry to hear that. Both of my grandfathers died while I was in my teens. One was a career mechanic and inveterate tinkerer; the other a charmingly grumpy and eccentric Englishman who'd left an upper-middle-class upbringing to go and be a farmer in New Zealand. I'd like to think that I carry a bit of both of them with me in my personality.
I lost a grandmother earlier this year, to a very aggressive brain tumor (diagnosed less than a month before she passed). We were very close, and thankfully, I was able to make it home for a short visit while she was still all there, but I had to miss the funeral, too – she lived in New Zealand (along with the rest of my family), and I'm in the US.
I miss her terribly, but my surviving grandmother is thoroughly awesome, though. She's 80-something, and still goes off travelling the world, with no sign of slowing down – the latest trip was an expedition through various South American countries, with a trip to Cuba in there for good measure! She's thoroughly Jalop, too: her daily-driver is the 1968 Triumph station wagon that my grandfather bought new from the factory before they emigrated to New Zealand.