Grandpa's Funeral

Dear Grandpa (Big Chief),
We love you.  Thank you for the fun memories.  We will miss you!

      My Grandpa Sorensen passed away last month.  It was somewhat expected, yet it still seemed sudden.  When we had gone home for Christmas he was full of energy, cracking jokes, hoarding ice-cream just like always.  In some ways he was slowing down, and we'd laugh about some things he'd do in his old age, but he didn't seem so old yet.  Bridger and I visit the senior center weekly and he didn't seem nearly as old as most of our friends there.  So it seemed sudden.  But it was expected because since January he had two surgeries, for broken ribs, and then for fluid on the brain found after he went in the hospital with pneumonia.
       He had gone back and forth rather quickly from not doing well (even wanting to die), to making full recoveries. The doctors also seemed to go back and forth, giving him between a week and a month to live, to saying he was super healthy and should live long.  After his last surgery, the night previous to the day he was supposed to check out, he began to have seizures.  From there he didn't have long until he passed away.
      I am not a big funeral person.  I don't like to think of grandpa as dead.  But I did love hearing my aunts and uncles reminisce about their memories.  I love remembering the times I'd answer the phone and he'd ask, Is this Cinderella?", or often calling me "Julie" and saying I sound just like my mom.  He would give me all kinds of compliments.
      I spent a treasured weekend with grandma and grandpa when I missed a flight.  We went out to dinner at Applebee's and I have the funniest memory is of grandpa... While we were waiting to be seated, he walked up and down the rows of tables, looking at what everyone was eating, to help him decide what he would order based on what looked the best.  Grandma was so embarrassed. Haha.  They had the cutest relationship.  I always knew that they love each other, but they always had a playful banter going on.  I can hear perfectly in my mind grandma's exasperated "Oh Linc!"  Grandpa loved to tell stories.  And he was such a social, people person, loved to talk to everyone, made friends with everyone, and was loved by everyone.
      The funeral was uplifting... sad and happy; I laughed and cried.  I left wanting to be better.
      While I was there I, somehow, kept expecting grandpa to walk through the door, cracking another joke.  It is hard to believe he is gone, and it's a sad thing for us.  But, he has got to be loving it in heaven!  Way to go grandpa!  Thanks for leaving is such a great example!  I love you!