April 16, 2012

Jared's talk at funeral

The past few weeks I've really been thinking about what I learned from my grandpa.  A few things stick out:
  • Sometimes when you have a child like Erin, you just have to shake your head and laugh.
  • It's never too hot to wear jeans.
  • No matter how old you get, it's still more than okay to tease just about everyone you know.
  • And if you're a basketball referee, you're wrong and it's okay to let you know about your mistakes.  Loudly.
As important as those things are, there are 2 things that I learned from him that I'm always going to make sure to implement into my life every day.  

1)  I've never seen somebody as courageous as my grandpa in the last 9 months of his life.  He never complained.  He never asked why.  He just accepted the plan God had for him and lived the remaining time he had with the same amount of joy and spunk he did the first 60+ years of his life.  The way he did that makes a test or a problem at work seem a little less like a problem.  No matter what life brings my way, I want to make sure to live it with the same courage he did.  

2)  We've all learned so much from my grandpa Bill, so it's nearly impossible to narrow this down to two things.  But for the sake of time...
I learned that if you have a loving wife, a trio of amazing kids, a handful of grandkids, and as great of friends as my grandpa had, then you have more than enough.  My grandpa wasn't a rich man, but him and my grandma worked hard to give their family a life they could be proud of.  And they did.  If I end my time on this earth with the amount of great people and love my grandpa had, then I will leave knowing I lived life right.  Just like he did.  

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