Labor Day 2008

Labor Day weekend in New Hampshire:
Sadly, my grandfather was dying of cancer, which brought the whole Upson family (my Mom's family) together at my grandparents' house. It's always sad to me that families often only get together at times of death and tragedy. It was a rough weekend, the cancer did to my grandfather what it had done to my Mom, so it felt a lot like watching my Mom die all over again. Gramp was an amazing grandfather, and I wrote the following to be read at his memorial service, since I wasn't able to attend.

"I only knew one grandfather, and I could not have asked for a better one. Lots of things I remember about him as I grew up… making stuff in the basement with him, like that wooden plant stand for Mom; the times that he would go sneak into the pantry when Nana wasn’t looking to get Hershey’s Miniatures for us before dinner; buckwheat pancakes – the best – I always looked forward to pancake day; calling him Gipper until it became “not cool” to do so; running up castle stairs in Scotland, trying to catch up to Edwin and Lionel with him trailing behind; sitting in the airplane on the way to Scotland and having him send me up to Nana when I started feeling sick; having him take Beth and me out into the woods to shoot Coke cans with the .22 – boy, was that fun; laughing with him when a kid in Switzerland called him “that old guy in the plaid pants”; lots and lots of shared driving on the trip to the Southwest; seeing “marmochucks” in Washington; stopping to look at geology – it was great fun to share that with him, and I got to see so many cool things that I otherwise wouldn’t have, like the lava tube in Oregon; his moments of attempted parking perfection shall live in infamy; his monthly letters throughout grad school and the past couple years of vet school – I’ve saved them all; knowing that he and Nana prayed for me every night. He was such a kind, calm, and gentle person with an amazing sense of humor – no one will ever tell Irish jokes the way he could – and I am very thankful to have known him and to have been able to call him my grandfather."

He was 97 when he died, and had just celebrated his 70th wedding anniversary with my grandmother. I will miss him until I join him, and my Mom, in heaven. I am sure that the two of them are having a wonderful time together!