Sleep

Just as the sun rose yesterday morning, Jeff and I drove into Oregon, IL (straight from Colorado), where we and my mom's family buried my grandpa in his final resting place. My aunt Patty delivered a beautiful eulogy. My grandpa was a very private person who almost never shared his feelings, so it was very touching when Patty shared a letter she found amongst his papers. It was a letter to us all from him, written in 1996. None of us knew why he wrote it, but I personally think that he knew someone would find it after he passed away, so he wanted to give us all a final goodbye. He listed all of his children and their best traits. Here's what he said about my mom:

"Laurie is very special -- she has been blessed with three great kids, all hearing impaired. But she doesn't feel sorry or say, 'why me?' She has become a better mom because of it. She works very hard at being a great mom and her fine children are the result. She is also a beautiful woman."

At the end of the letter, he wrote something that reinforced my belief that it was intended to be a final goodbye:

"Mom [my grandma] and I love all of you very much. What that means is we want to see all of you in Heaven with us. We hope we have done our job so that we do meet again in Heaven, where we will all be one blessed family again."

Rest in peace, Grandpa B. I still can't believe he's gone.

On a lighter note, Bogart is such a sweetheart! I picked up my cats at Laura's and Bogart took a great liking to one of my bags. (Do I sound like a crazy cat and bag lady right now?) Kikeli was just starting to warm up to Bogart, so it's a shame I had to take her and Einstein home today. Maybe next time, they'll become better friends.