Memoir

It was a beautiful day. Blue skies, slight breeze. A day everyone asks for. Inside, it was an entirely different story.
My grandfather, Maurice Wasserman, passed away on September 9th, 2009. His funeral was that Thursday. It wasn’t exactly a day to remember, but it’s not a day I’ll ever forget. The veiwing, serice and lunch that followed were at Benson funeral home. During the hour that people could say their respects, I kept myself busy helping my cousin with his baby girl Evalie. As I walked around, I could find some smiles in the midst of tears. The service was, well, a service. It was nice and people shared stories. For the majority of the time, I looked at my toes, and wished I wasn’t there. The lunch consisted of pretty much the same thing, along with picking through food I had no intention of eating. Next, I endured the forty-five minute ride to Fort Ripley, where my grandfather was to be buried. Inside, there was a formal military service. They played Taps and fired the guns. Each note tore through my heart, and each shot brought another tear. At the end, they folded the flag and presented it to my grnadma. The moment she took that flag was when everything stopped, and sunk in. It was like a nuclear bomb had gone off inside my head. Tears flowed freely down my face as I tried to find justification to all that was happening. All my memories of my grandfather flashed through my head. Showing him I can tie my shoes, and spell my name, visiting their flea market in Taylor’s Falls, sledding on calvary hill, moving them from Hinckley to St. Cloud, the day he told us he had prostate cancer, watching him get sicker, seeing him waste away, feeling him grow out of reach, getting the news that he had died, and then now, being without him. Family get togethers will never be the same. Christmas will be a little empty, but it’s a relief to know that he’s notin pain anymore. It makes it easier to deal with, a little more tolerable. It hurts to lose someone you love, but it hurts more to see them in pain. Knowing that he’s not hurting anymore, makes me feel better inside, and because of that, I'll be okay.