Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Change



On August 14, 2010 30 days from my Grandmother's passing, her sweet and loving husband Charles Frank Call joined her in heaven.

Yesterday was his funeral, and like my Grandmothers was filled with people who love, honor and will dearly miss him.

My Grandpa was known in our family for his "Mischievous eyes" when ever we would visit he would always tell us WE had "mischief in our eyes" meaning we (mainly my older brother David and sister Hilary) had inherited his intense eyes of dark eyebrows, and long dark lashes. This continued on for many many years on to our own children. When he met Axel for the first time in April, the first thing he said was "That boy has Mischief in his eyes," followed by his ruff but cheerful chuckle.

Grandpa call was also known for falling asleep, he suffered from narcolepsy and he would pretty much fall asleep anywhere, anytime.

One Thanksgiving, when I was in high school, my boyfriend at the time came with my family up to Idaho for Thanksgiving. We asked grandpa if we could watch a movie, and so he excitedly said of course lets watch this one. And it was some very boring western. My boyfriend was less than thrilled about it, but I reassured him "don't worry he will be asleep in the first 5 minutes and we can watch something else."

But wouldn't you know, he stayed awake the ENTIRE time, laughing hysterically at everything! That was the only time I ever saw my grandpa stay awake that long.

Grandpa had a great sense of humor, when my Mother and her sister were little, they remember asking my grandfather where babies came from and he replied "God greases their butts and sends them down the rainbow." This catch phrase became a favorite in our home, and still is.

He wasn't afraid to tell you like it is. He unlike my grandmother would never sugar coat anything. If he felt something should be said, he said it. When we would visit, we would always run up to both our grandparents and give them a hello, but he would always tell us, "That is your hug for the visit, you only get one, and he meant it."

At his Wifes funeral my dad said he was standing next to my grandmother, and her cute little sister that has been suffereing from dementia for many years was exclaiming how that was her sister in there and kept saying "Charlie doesn't Laura look beautiful? and he turns to her and says "you should have gone first" and looks away. That's my grandfather.

But he sure did love my grandmother. That is what I remember the most, he respected her and loved her so so much, and it showed. They were a great example of what a marriage should be. Filled with love, sacrifice and friendship.

My Grandpa's funeral was very similar to my grandmothers, in fact I am sure when I get older I will forget what songs were sang at each one and just merge them together.

But I won't forget his burial, he had a military burial, he served in the US Navy in WWII and it was sooo amazing. You always see them on the T.V but I can not even begin to describe the intense emotion, profound respect and intense spirit that was there. It was amazing. Tears were shed, respect was given and healing began to take its course.

I love you grandpa and will miss you dearly, but know you are where you should be. Give grandma a hug and a kiss for me and tell her I miss her, I am sure she was glad to see you.

To see a video of his "21 gun salute" click here

2 comments:

KaSs MiLeS said...

that's really cool. ive never seen a military burial.
that's funny about watching the movie. old people like the weirdest movies! Jerome's grandpa is that same way.

Jill said...

I'm sorry for your loss, but moved by your love for him.

He was obviously eager to rejoin his sweet wife. Talk about a love story, right?
:)