Last Thursday I flew back to the St. Louis area for Granddad's funeral. I was of course dreading the funeral and the sadness, but was certainly glad to be able to go. It is one of those life events you can't miss.
Friday was his funeral. To start the day, I went for a run to wake up and shake out the cobwebs from a lack of sleep. During the run I thought about what I would say at the funeral. After a quick shower we headed over to the church. The whole morning was bittersweet. It was good to see the extended family and old friends I hadn't seen in years. It was sad to see them under the circumstances. It was sad to see Granddad laying in the coffin, but good to see him looking peaceful. Even the service was bittersweet...there were lots of tears, but just as many smiles and laughs as we celebrated Granddad's life. He really was a good man...humble, hard-working, frugal, kind, and most importantly a believer in Christ.
After the service and lunch, my brother Todd and I headed over to see our other grandparents. We enjoyed our two hour visit...my Granddaddy is 92 and getting frail physically, but his mind is strong and he shared some funny stories. He of course cried when we had to leave...he said he didn't know if he would still be around when we came back next (he has been saying that for 4 years now!).
On the way back to my parent's house, I looked at Todd and asked him if he wanted to see if there were still some tickets to the Cardinal's game that night. It was a bit weird to think about going to a ballgame the night of my Granddad's funeral so we ran it by my folks. They were totally in support of the idea and to my surprise, my dad pulled out his credit card and bought the tickets on line for me and Todd..."you guys need to spend some time together." We didn't argue...especially when he gave us a $20 for food at the stadium!
The game was of course awesome. The Cardinals played well and won 5-4. Todd and I had a great time. It of course lessened the pain of the week. Granddad was a huge Cardinal's fan...he followed them closely and watched most of their televised games. So of course, we couldn't help but think that Granddad would have liked it that we went to a ballgame after his funeral. Especially since the Cards won. He really would have liked that!
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