Trying to get back in the swing

Two weeks of doing mornings instead of afternoons were followed by the death of my last remaining Grandparent last week, and a three-day trip to Minnesota to honor him.

He was not an average man, he was not a good man, he was a great man. I've talked of him in this blog before. He was the self-made success who ran a farm, a country general store, and a bus route all at the same time from the 50's through the mid 80's, when Reaganomics busted him and countless other small farmers in the midwest.

I consider myself one of the luckiest dudes ever, because both of my parents (who had me young) were also born early in their parents' lives. So I had four grandparents until I was 29, and still had a grandpa until the age of 44. I know lots of folks who barely remember any grandparents, and I had four of the best, and for a long, long time.

We laid Grandpa to rest Wednesday morning, cried our tears, and then honored him as he'd have honored anyone else: we all congregated at my uncle's beautiful house in the Minnesota countryside for a day of memories, tall tales, and laughs about Grandpa. I saw cousins I hadn't seen in years. I was able to introduce my lovely Diane to cousins and aunts and uncles who had yet to meet her, and they all loved her immediately, as expected. They all wonder how I got her. I say the same thing to everyone: I'm an overachiever in that department.

I finally got to see my goddaughter's baby, and lo and behold, the little guy became enamored with Diane (no surprise there). Did he like me? Not so much. I saw a nephew from Nevada for the first time (he's 1), and I got to make peace with an uncle that I've been bickering and battling with since Dubya took office. Without going into too much detail, he's a bit ashamed of what's going on right now. He'll never vote Democrat, and I don't expect him to, but he's not going to support the far right wing ever again. Good move that, I say.

We're moving closer to meeting in the middle politically. Something that all of us should do.

All in all, a sad time, but a wonderful time, and a new beginning for long-gone-away family members. Terrible that it takes a death to do that, but we made the vow to not wait until another funeral to get together. Accidents aside, family deaths go in cycles. If everyone lives out a full life, we'll not have another round of funerals for 20-25 years. We will not wait that long to get together again.