My mom's dad, Wilbert Brandner, died either this morning or late last night. He was around 80 years old, and had been ill for quite some time. Even so the timing was unexpected, at least to me.
He lived in Bismarck North Dakota, and I had not been blessed to see him for about 10 years or so because traveling there is impossible for me. So my memories of him are mostly from when I was little, but I loved him a lot and I'm really close to my grandma. We talk on the phone often. The best thing I remember about grandpa was his humor. A little misunderstood sometimes by most others, but always there despite difficulties. He was injured in a grain elevator accident at a pretty young working age, but still managed to push through and provide for his family.
I'm not sure how close he and my mom actually were at this point because my mom still doesn't communicate with me very often, but it has to be hurting her, so please pray for my mom and my grandma and the most. I'm also hoping that this will help my mom's faith, if it does indeed need help.
For me, pray that I will get through the struggle of not being able to be there, as usual. This is the most frustrating thing all around for me lately.
If the concept of praying does not work for you, just send your love and positive energy my way and to the family. Most of what prayer is is positive energy anyway.
I love you grandpa. I'm sorry you didn't really get to know the adult me, but maybe we can rectify that later on a long fishing trip. Don't worry about grandma, I will check in on her often, and she will probably join you before you even have time to miss her. I will keep telling your bad jokes, but I'm going to blame them on you. Save me some homemade sausage and sauerkraut, okay?
Your first granddaughter,
Amber Marie