This past week has been a bit chaotic. My grandpa passed away from pancreatic cancer. This is Grandpa and Grandma Brant about 2 years ago. Grandma Brant died in January 2009 from a fall accident.
Grandpa Brant was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in August 2010. This is my last picture (along with some of my cousins) with him. We had a Brant family reunion last summer just for him. Pancreatic cancer is no joke and we knew his days were numbered.
The blessing in all of this heartache with seeing a loved one suffering is that the family was brought together. In his last days, ALL of his sons and daughters were by his side. Everyone was able to spend precious time with him and speak from their heart. I know he found comfort in that.
He passed away on February 17th and that Saturday we headed to Michigan for the visitation and funeral. The girls did SOOOOO well during the car ride. We actually had a celebration over bananas!!!
Anything to make the trip seem adventurous right?!
Sunday was the visitation and Michigan was expecting a snow storm. This picture was at the start of it. 9 inches fell in just 6 hours.
This is a picture of Reagan's pigtails. Everyone loved her hair clips (Thanks Aunt Kristin!!!) Don't mind the fact that her pigtails are uneven. It's the best I can do trying to wrangle a 2 year old to sit down so I can do her hair!
I don't have any other pictures from the visitation, but here is one of the girls with their cousin Haley at the funeral.
The next set of pictures may seem a bit odd, but I was trying to figure out why our camera was having delayed picture taking. I felt some of the pictures did a good job of telling the events of the funeral.
Here you can see that my Grandpa had an open casket.
Here is my Uncle Steve looking at one of the memory boards that had pictures of my grandpa on it.
Right before the family had to go upstairs to the actual funeral service, we met in a chapel for some prayer time. A bit surreal if you ask me.
I don't have any pictures from the funeral service, but it was so beautiful. I'm not quite sure if there was a dry eye in the place. I was borderline sobbing like a baby. My aunt Arlene, cousin Marci, and Uncle Steve spoke. It was so heartfelt.
After the service the church held a luncheon for all of us. It was so nice and reminded me of the old days when churches had potlucks and stuff after Sunday service.
Brendan and Ruthie were enjoying the luncheon. I won't mention how many homemade desserts I ate! LOL
Here are the Ohio cousins waiting for the car after the luncheon.
Reagan promptly fell asleep. It was really a long day for all of us.
We headed to a friend's house to make this gift for Mother's day. Aren't they cute and unique?! It's your child's fingerprints in the shape of a flower with their name. (This plaque is an example.)
That night we had a great time visiting with family at my grandparent's farm house. We left the next morning to Ohio. We knew the trip would be a bit longer since Michigan had just had a snow storm.
Reagan wanted to show you her chicken nugget...
and Ruthie wanted to show you her Barbie doll from her Happy Meal.
Both the girls were exhausted from the trip. Reagan took 2 cat naps while...
Ruthie took a long 3 hour nap. She NEVER does that. We knew she had a lot of fun playing with her cousins this past weekend, but she was tired.
I feel like I have entered a new stage of life with my grandfather's passing. I do have one grandparent alive from my marriage to Brendan, but the grandparents I grew up with have all passed away. That is a weird feeling. It makes me feel old and also more sentimental that life could be gone in an instant.
This is probably one of my longest blog posts ever so I will end it with...I must go and do laundry. Profound I know!! LOL
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