Everyone has their own opinions on everything... even the kind of life a man can lead. I know that I am not perfect and I know that my Poppop is not perfect. But as a Grandfather, I knew that I was loved, so I think that has something to say about him. He's lying in a hospital bed, tied down b/c he is angry and swinging at people. He is confused and he is scared. It breaks my heart that he is there... He wanted to die in his house... a home that he built pretty much by himself 60 years ago. He is confused... his dementia has progresssed quickly over the past few months. And he is scared... wouldn't you be if you knew the end of your life was any moment! He also has pneumonia, so he is coughing up lots of dehydrated, thick sputum. At this point, he has refused to eat or drink for days.... quite possibly one of the last decisions he'll ever be able to make. And I say "Good for him!!"
Mandy, Meg and I went to visit with him today... to say goodbye. It was hard but I am so glad that we went. We visitted for two hours, and he was lucid for a good part of it... much more than we had expected. I got to tell him "Thank you for showing me love, the way you knew how". I told him that I thought that he was lucky that he had a family that he could be proud of. I witnessed to him, a little. I thanked him for always being so kind to me, Jason and the kids. He's never in his life told me that he loved me (I don't recall him saying that anyway), but I know that he did. We told him some of our favorite memories of him, and even made him cry... I know that may sound evil, but it was confirmation to us that he understood what we were saying.
Some of my favorite memories about him that we talked about...
* "Yo!!!!" in his cute little funny voice
* "Im deaf in one ear and can't hear out of the other"
* Teaching me 52 pick up... I only played once in my life.
* Bringing us the BIG Symphony candy bars whenever we were home sick from school
* Driving like a bat out of hell
*Running down the bleachers screaming at the high school refs for giving me a technical foul
*Sneaking us money whenever we'd visit, after moving to Lancaster
*Coming to church without a fight when we had the girls dedicated.
* Bent over picking up the leaves... one by one... on his driveway
*Only letting us kiss himm on his upper cheek where "there's no whiskers!"
*Insisiting that Morgan was a boy and wanted a slice of pizza... when she was 4 months old
* Only drinking Pepsi.... NO coke.
* Only drinking Bud beer (I think that's the right kind, anyway)
*HE had to mash the potatoes b/c Mommom left chunks
* He raided the pantry whenever we visitted - we got cookies, tasty cakes, candy, soda and anything else we could possibly want.
* How proud he is when he talks about his sons
* He was doing flips on our trampoline when he was in his 80s!!!!
* All of his prejudices... he loved his new cologne until he found out it was Michael Jordan's cologne... then he threw it across the room!
*He gave my friend Bryan rims for his vintage Mustang... the very next day, Bryan totalled his car... rims and all!
* Taking us to buy a Honey Baked Ham every Easter... even with the line literally out the door
*His stacks of Lotto cards rubberbanded together
* The candy dish
* He burned his own garbage
*All of his fruits/veggies from his LOVED garden
*I let my turtle go in his garden once... never did find it :(
* He LOVES his snapper soup and his garlic bread
* The way he unwraps gifts... incredibly slow and he then refolds the paper nicely. I use to think he did it just to torture us with anticipation
*His humongous knuckles
*His first stroke appx 8 years ago when he couldn't say the words that he wanted to... it was the first time I saw him frustrated and even cry. We made him a book with everyone's picture and name in it.
*Someone in the Goldsborough family had a son with Down Syndrome... Poppop was always SO nice the the little boy and would pick up extra treats for him, when he knew he'd see him
* He locks every door, even when we were all there for the day
* All of the tarps and buckets he had laying around the house to keep the water out
*How many times can one man re-tar his driveway???
* He always "directs" me out of his driveway and waits for us to drive away
*Even with his dementia, he always seemed to know what we going on with Jackson's health... that meant a lot to me!
*He would always put the hammock up for us
*Even with his dementia, he always seemed to know what we going on with Jackson's health... that meant a lot to me!
*He would always put the hammock up for us
And some of my favorite pictures.
I sure do wish I had his voice on video!!! I totally regret NOT having him on video! Oh, how I will miss his voice! I'll have to look through my non-digital pictures too.
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Edgar Osborne Moore Jr.
3/25/20 - 3/6/13
