Remembering a wonderful man...

Today marks one year since my Granpa Harnish went to be with his Lord & Savior. I really cannot believe that it's been one year since I last saw him, one year since I last held his hand or kissed his forehead, one year since I last heard him call me "Honey Girl" (the nickname he had for my mom, sister, and I). Sometimes when I'm thinking about him I can still hear him say it. Along with such sweet memories it brings tears of grief.

Sometimes I miss him so much it hurts. This past fall I went to get a pillow case out of the linen closet. A linen closet that was never at his house in Pennsylvania, but here in an apartment in Missouri where Granpa had never been. I pulled out the pillow case, and instantly it hit me. It smelled like him. So strong that it instantly took me back to the little brick house in Derry, PA. I put it on my pillow, crawled in bed, and cried.

Isn't is amazing how quickly grief can go away, but how quickly it will come rushing back? Instead of talking about his final days (although it was time I will always cherish) I've decided to reminisce by making a list of things about Granpa:

-He was always smiling. He would be alone in a room, you walk in, and he would just be sitting there smiling. He grew happier the older he got.

-He turned 98 years old about 6 weeks before he died (see pictures above).

-He graduated from Penn State with a degree in Chemical Engineering, and worked for Westing House

-He always tried to teach me how to shuffle cards, but I couldn't do it. So, he bought me an automatic card shuffler : )

-He loved playing chess. When Mark & I were visiting him in the days leading up to his passing, I promised him I would learn how (so I can play with Mark). His comment "Well, that's good, it keeps your mind strong."

-His mind was strong until the very end. He probably could have done some quick mulitplication tables if we had asked.

-For as long as I can remember, he entered the Publishers Clearing House, just on the off-chance that he would win.

-When they would come visit us in Ohio, they would sleep on our pull out sofa. Each morning, we would climb in bed with them & they would tell us some ridiculously funny stories (that we always believed). My favorite was about the snake who put his tail in his mouth to roll down the hill.

-He put his family before himself. When my mom went to pay for his funeral, she found out that he had already paid for it 17 years before so as not to be a burden on her. He & my grandma lived in a cute little house, but never had anything flashy or expensive. They lived modestly, so that some day they could bless their only daughter & her family with an inheritance.

- He had all of his teeth pulled at a pretty young age (in his 30s?), and got dentures. He had to wait a few days before his dentures were ready, so my Grandma ground up his meat for him. Now that is love : )

-We always wanted to shave with him, so he specially made razors (the plastic without the blades) so the 3 of us could "shave" with him.

-In order to be granted permission to marry my grandma, her father & brother made my granpa cut the head off a chicken. This is not a joke.

-He was the most wonderful grandfather. Although our children will never meet him, we will be sure that they know what an amazing man he was.

To read another blog about my Granpa, go to my brother's blog here