It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of a wonderful man, my Grandpa. I have no words to express how I feel other than numb. I still have not yet the news fully sink in. I think I pressed it down into the deepest part of my brain so that I may deal with it when I’m ready.
5:45 came way to early this morning. Always needing to be absurdly early to almost everything, I woke myself up 2 hours before I was supposed to be somewhere 1/2 mile from my house. I took a shower and reheated the breakfast I had cooked yesterday in preparation for this morning. I rode to Starbucks and got 20 ounces of liquid rocket fuel and headed to the college for a pre-employment psychological examination. I arrived promptly at 7, a full hour before the test was scheduled. While I was standing there trying to calm my nerves and appear professional, I got a text from my sister telling me to call her once I woke up. I figured I had a few minutes before the test so I called to see what was up. She informed me that my grandpa had passed away in his sleep last night. He had just turned 96 back in June, and thankfully I was able to be there for his birthday party. I talked to my sister for a few moments and then had to end the call to line up for the exam. I wanted to grave, but I knew that I had to push the emotions away for the time being.
The test was almost 500 true or false questions. I am not allowed to divulge any of the actual questions, but some of them were quite odd. One that threw me for a loop was “I believe that President ‘X’ was a better leader than President ‘Y’ (I can’t use the names of the presidents from the test)”. I finished the exam in just under two hours and rushed to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription that I was told would be ready by 10am. I arrived just after 10 and was told to come back on Tuesday. I went home and broke the news about my grandpa to Rebecca and then I called my dad. It was not a sudden loss as he has been slowly loosing his health and mobility over the last few years, but that didn’t make it any less tragic.
I needed to get out of the house so Rebecca and I went to the grocery store where I could distract myself. After the store, I changed and then picked up my friend Brandon. He is in town on a prayer retreat, and to go to the University of Washington vs. University of Hawaii football game. I had been planning on going to the game ever since they posted the schedule last year. There was almost no traffic on the way to the stadium, and then we got in the parking lot and sat in line for about 75 hours. The parking lot was a sea of both purple and green as supporters for both teams were tailgating. We found a spot and Brandon asked the tailgaters if we could park there. They agreed to move their BBQ grill and I squeezed Rebecca’s tiny car into the spot. No sooner had I turned off the engine did I hear “Hey, its Travis!” I looked up and instantly recognized the group as customers whom I had served last night at work. I must have left quite an impression as they gave us high fives and offered us BBQ and sodas. We headed into the stadium and headed right to a stand where they were giving away trinkets for entering their raffle. I won a water bottle that I later knocked over with my foot and broke. We found out way to our seats, 13 rows up from the 20 yard line on the Hawaii side. The major difference between a UH game, and a Seahawks game was the fact that right up until kickoff, the majority of the seats were empty. Most of the fans were still in the parking lot tailgating, plus everything here runs on Island time. The Huskies ended up winning 17-16 in one of the sloppiest games I have ever seen. We left the stadium once the game ended and actually got out of the parking lot fairly quickly. I dropped Brandon off at his hotel and went home to spend some time with Rebecca. I ate way too much food because I hadn’t eaten since 6 this morning and spent the rest of the night feeling bloated and gross.
Now that I am back home, away from all the distractions, I have stated allowing myself to process everything. He was the only grandpa I knew. I met my mom’s father a few times, but he was never really in my life that I can remember. My grandma and grandpa would spend every Christmas Eve at our house so they could be there when we got to open our presents from Santa. I remember countless camping trips to the beach in their airstream camper. I remember sitting down with him about 10 years ago and having him tell me about his experiences during the war. He was injured by shrapnel and ended up leaving the hospital without permission to join up with his unit. I remember seeing the tears well up in his eyes as he walked in to his surprise 90th birthday party with a huge room of his family and friends. He would crack a joke at your expense and in the same breath say something lovely…. sometimes. He was always there for us, he was always praying for us, he loved us, and he will be greatly missed.
I know that he was constantly praying for me, and I know that now he will forever be watching me and the rest his family. My only regret is that I hadn’t talked to him since June. I could never reach him, but if he can figure out his voicemail in heaven, he will hear about 75 messages from me telling him that I was thinking about him, and that I love him.
Goodbye Grandpa, thank you for everything you taught me, thank you for being there when I needed you, thank you for your prayers, I miss you.