Perkins

This year has been a rough one. Both of Garrett's grandparents on his mom's side have passed away. For seven years I have visited with them once a week sometimes two. When I was pregnant with Allie I would come in the morning and swim. Grandma would meet me at the door, and lead me to the couch where she had set aside my swimming suit and towel. Then give me a head visor for my eyes (she never let me forget it) and would talk with me after. Then later, we would come to dinner once a week and they would play with the kids. Every time I saw Grandpa he would ask "What do you know Jen?" Only in the beginning it was Jange, or Ginger (two beloved dogs) It took about 3 years for him to call me by name. He once snuck out of the house and came to hospital after I had one of the kids and asked to see Ginger Boswell. The nurse had to call me to see if I knew a strange man named Perkins before they would let him in. Every Wednesday Grandma would go shopping with Jodie and almost always ended up buying something for the kids. They have always been the best dressed kids I know. When Grandma passed away in Jan. we were so grateful she was out of pain. But Grandpa fell into a cloud of unhappiness wanting to join his wife of 67 years. Then less than 1 year later. Grandpa went into the hospital exactly at the same time as Grandma went into the hospital for the exact same problem. He was in the hospital for the last week, came home Sat. and died around 3:00 am on Sun. Morning. It took only 9 days for him to go from functional to dead. All he wanted was to come home. As Allie said when we told her Grandpa died and is now with Grandma "Oh good, he wanted to die, now he is happy!" I know he is happy, both his wife and his son (who had passed away 57 years ago age 10) are with him now but I will miss both of them. They both treated me as a granddaughter from day 1. Grandpa used to get me a honey baked ham for Thanksgiving and Christmas waiting in very long lines (and he didn't wait in lines for anything) every time because he knew I liked them. He worried more about my health and weight than I did and would hide Twinkies but then get pizza and push me to eat more! We talked about a lot of things he didn't feel like he could tell anyone else, and I was pretty good at pushing him to get do things he didn't want to do. Even knowing he is happy with grandma I will still think of them on Thursdays. My last memory of Grandpa was visiting him in the hospital, he was in and out of his head, and everyone was talking and I was holding his hand while he slept and he turned over and looked me in the eye and said, "Hi Jen". I loved them.