Goodbye Grumpy.

We got some sad news at the end of our Vegas trip...Grumpy (Great Grandpa Hettinger) passed away on August 1, 2009. Although we didn't get to visit with him too often, Grumpy was one of Ryan's favorite people. He talked about him often, and would ask me when he was going to get to see Grumpy again. (He lived in Chicago). Grumpy would make a growling sound that the kids loved, and he had "cool stuff" on his walker according to Ryan- blinking lights and a horn the kids loved to honk over and over and over.
In case you are wondering, I have no idea how Grumpy got his nickname...he had a great sense of humor and never seemed grumpy to me! =)

Here is a picture of the two buddies bonding over some M&Ms (thanks Kathy!) on a recent (and last) visit to Chicago on June 21.

This photo is from a visit in October 2008 when Kathy and Grumpy came down for a visit and we met at MacDonalds for breakfast.

Grumpy's funeral was held on Wednesday, August 5, 2009. His grandchildren were pallbearers, and Ryan wanted to help out as well, so he "held" up the rear of the casket helping out daddy and his cousins.

In preparation for the day, I'd gone to the library and checked out some books for Ry about death. So, he did have some understanding. He didn't seem afraid at all, and he didn't cry. At the wake, he told me he wanted to go see Grumpy, and he went right up to his casket (Ryan called this his treasure chest for some reason) and held his hand and then flew a toy airplane he had in his pocket all around Grumpy, letting it come to rest on his tie lapel.

A few days before the funeral, Ryan told me that he wanted to make a letter to put on top of Grumpy's casket so that they would not dig up Grumpy and take him. I have no idea where he got that idea from (church, where they thought maybe thieves had stolen Jesus' body?) but he seemed to forget about it later, and we never did this.

While I think Julia won't ever remember much of this day, she did have a little idea of what was going on. She told me she wanted to see Grumpy, so we walked up to the casket, and she said "Bye, bye Grumpy" while waving to him.

Grumpy will be missed!