Thursday, July 30, 2009

A birthday tribute


Today would have been my grandfather's 94th birthday. I think it is safe to presume that the great majority of people who live and have lived on this earth don't make it this many years in their lives. My grandfather was six months shy of it. It is hard to believe that he has been gone now for 6 months.

I've never been much of a birthday person. I don't know why. Maybe the excessive attention that some people give to it is just a little much to me and though I will never publically admit it (though I am doing it here), it is good to see that people say "Happy Birthday" if only because they care for me. My birthday is in two days, on 1 August. Interesting fact is that my great-grandfather, my grandfather's father, was born on July 31. So, we have a trifecta of birthdays in my family and we're all named Chris. Actually, they were Christians and I am a Christopher, but it's close enough. I never met my great-grandfather. He died back in 1957, I think. But the thing is that I always knew my birthday was around the corner because my grandfather's happened before it. Celebrating his birthday was in anticipation of celebrating my own.

Now, this year, there are no cards, no phone calls. I'm sure my mom is probably having a difficult time today and I can't imagine about my grandmother. When I visited her earlier this month when I was passing through Findlay, she mentioned her husband only once just simply to say "I miss him." All I could say is that I miss him, too. And that was all I said of it.

I saw my grandfather's burial site while I was in Findlay. I finally found it after much searching. When we buried him it was a cold, snowy day. Now the place was blossoming forth with green grass, flowers, big trees with lots of leaves for shade. There is still no headstone to mark the site (no one knows what to get) and there is still mainly dirt with a vase and some flowers.

This is the most empty July 30 I can remember. I never thought my grandfather's absence could make such a difference. But it has and I think that my upcoming birthday will be less, at least this year, just because he is no longer here.

+Memory eternal!

2 comments:

slpalo said...

I think we're all thinking about Opa today. He is definitely missed. Happy Birthday, Opa!

margaret said...

Your poor grandmother... at that age she was married... what 60 or 70 years? I can't even imagine that. My own grandma lost her husband when she was 44 and her last sensible words 43 years later were, "I'm so glad I'm going to see Harry again now." We marry later and our marriages don't last, it's so hard to imagine that generation's experience. I will pray for them both.