grandpa the great

my grandpa died last week. my dad's dad. it happened fairly quickly and it seemed he wasn't in a whole lot of pain. death is weird, still, for me. i realized during this time that he was the first relative of mine that i was actually close to, who has passed in my life.

he had a hemorage the size of an orange in his brain that eventually took over his body. i am so thankful that his will was clear, and that we were able to respect his wishes of non-intervention. my grandpa was 78. we were actually able to celebrate his birthday on april 1st (YES, an april fool's baby-quite fitting) and he passed on the 2nd. even though my grandpa had lived a full life, i was horribly sad at his funeral and at times even mad that he was leaving us when my baby was still so young-had only met him once.

and it wasn't until at his funeral that i realized my gramps was really gone. i had seen him in the hospital and in hospice and i knew full-well that it was only a matter of days until he would be gone. but when you see someone whose body and face are distorted by dying, you see the side of that person that is the death, not the life.

this picture is of my gramps, richard lage and my man erich lage (not technically MY man, my sister's man, but he's my favorite little man). they are sporting their bomber jackets. my grandpa's is the real deal-he was an air force guy. and erich's is a replica, a gift from grandpa the great. don't they look handsome?