Today is also a part of the Thanksgiving long weekend. While my heart has been aching with the pain of my earthly losses, I recognize that I still have much to be thankful for. Simply to name a few; I have family and friends who love me, I have the funds to pay for school, I have a job, and I have the knowledge that both my Opa and my Grandma loved Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, but amidst that pain, I know that I will see my loved ones again, and when that time arrives, I'll never have to say goodbye.
At my Opa's funeral, I had the opportunity to give a eulogy. It was definitely one of the most difficult things that I've had to do, but it was something that was so important to me, and I'm grateful that I was able to do that. Planning what I was going to say took me quite awhile, and I'm not sure I can concisely come up with something else, so I'm going to take this time to share that eulogy with you.
{October 13th, 2015}
The man who we are all here honouring today is a man that I could talk to you about for hours. But seeing as he was quite remarkable, others want to talk about him as well so I’ve been given only a couple of minutes. Now, I could spend these minutes telling you about the hard worker that he was, or how much he cared for his family, both of which are true, but I’ve chosen to share a couple of personal memories that are simple but that I will carry forever, and that I’d like you all to know too.
When I think back to my childhood with my Opa, I remember countless Sunday mornings sitting on the far side of the church with him and my brother. When it came time for the offering, I remember Opa giving both Eric and me two toonies; one of them was for the offering plate, and the other one was for us to keep. Considering this happened pretty much every Sunday, I’m sure you’d believe me when I say that I had quite a collection of toonies going on. As we grew older, he stopped giving us toonies, and my wallet has definitely been feeling that loss.
I sing on the worship team here at my church; over the years, I remember my Opa telling me after a service in which I had sung with the team, that he could hear me singing beautifully that morning. But my friends always tell me that you can’t really distinguish different people’s voices when the congregation is singing with the worship team, so I think my Opa was just trying to flatter me. To me, a compliment’s a compliment and I truly appreciated his constant encouragement throughout the years. He supported both my brother and me in everything that we did, with every choice that we made, and he was always proud of us.
Another memory that I have of my Opa is one that carried on right until the very end. I didn’t think much of this until I got a little bit older, but I started realizing that whenever Eric and I went out anywhere with him, he would always make sure to tell whoever it was that we came across that we were his grandchildren, and not only that, but we were his only grandchildren. When Eric and I visited our Opa in the hospice for the first time, I remember he was pretty quiet; he was content listening to Eric and my conversations. But when the nurse came in, he was very quick to introduce us and some of the things that he said were, “these are my grandchildren!”, “my only grandchildren”, and “they come to visit me a lot.” Whenever we would visit him, whether he was at home, in the hospital, or in the hospice, he would never let us leave without telling us how much he appreciated our visits.
In his eighty-nine years, my Opa was a very well-loved man. Since his passing, I’ve had different people tell me about how much they appreciated his stories, and his presence in their lives, in this church, and in his business. We will continue to love him, and although we miss him terribly now and we will for as long as we remain here, I can’t help but be excited for the next time we get to visit him. And I know that in Glory, I won’t ever have to worry about our visits ending.
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This picture was taken during one of my Opa's hospital stays last summer
{July 2015}
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