Reflecting on my grandfather's life

Reflection

Image courtesy Captive Beauty Photography

Reflecting on my grandfather's life after a great funeral service in Brandon on Tuesday. Listening to the stories told of him and his character filled me with so many emotions. His passing has brought out so many emotions in me that I never knew existed. I'm riding the roller coaster of these extremes and living in the moment of it all. I'm navigating a part of my life that is brand new, and not enjoyable, but I am sure I will be travelling this path more than once in my life.

Something my cousin said at the funeral that a trait all the cousins share is that we feel emotion deeply. Every emotion we have we feel deeply. Anger. Sadness. Joy. Sorrow. I'm feeling all of these things in so many ways and I don't know what to do with all of them. One of the most powerful emotions I have right now is pride. Pride in who my grandfather was. Pride in who he raised his kids to be. Pride in how his grandchildren have grown and turned out. Pride in my family, my heritage, and my future.

Image courtesy Captive Beauty Photography

My dad brought out some war memorabilia of my grandfather's last night at the hotel and was going through all of it, explaining what each piece was. One of the most interesting pieces was his old pay book he carried with him everywhere he went. It was basically details about everything he did, dental history, when he got each rank, courses he had taken, etc. The book was in tatters, but his writing was very clear. The story was told that he had rushed through a writing assignment in school and his teacher made him stay in from recess and lunch to redo it. From that point he vowed to never have that happen again.

This stubbornness has carried forward in my family, sometimes for the better and other times for the worse. I recognize my own stubbornness, and it can be frustrating, but there are points in my life where I would say that being stubborn has been good for me. I won't go into detail on these times, but I think I just wanted to say that there are positives and negatives to every trait that someone has. We all have our weaknesses, but those same traits are most likely strengths in other scenarios. We need to learn to find our strong points and work on our weaknesses.

Saying goodbye to my grandfather was tough, but knowing he graduated from this Earth brings me comfort. Thanks for everything, John. You have run the good race, you have fought the good fight, and you are a winner.