Grandpa Jim is our Angel

Travis' Grandpa (Tyler and Kinley's Great-Grandpa Jim) passed away on September 8th. This was Travis' last living grandparent and Travis is in California, as I type, attending Grandpa Jim's service where he will be laid to rest with his wife. Grandpa Jim was 96 years old and was generally healthy up until the very end.  He had a good family, was a Major in the Air Force (I think Travis said for 22 or 24 years!), was the pilot of some pretty impressive planes, lived in some awesome places, like Japan, and had a successful career in real estate. What else could you ask for??  It's hard to be sad when someone has lived such a long, healthy and fulfilling life, but we are certainly going to miss having him around us!

I met Grandpa Jim nine years ago and I was warned ahead of time about how difficult he could be and that there was a chance I may not like him. I immediately fell in love with Grandma Winnie, but within two hours of meeting Grandpa Jim, I was pretty certain that I did NOT like him. ;-) He had me attempt to till his garden and when I couldn't do it, he gave me a pretty hard time. He gave me such a hard time that I actually left and sat in the house by myself and sulked. haha. We then hiked through his California hills neighborhood and he gave Grandma Winnie a very hard time anytime she tried to take a small break. He wasn't going to let anyone have a break.  I found out pretty quickly that this man meant business and I was not a fan of his. As he showed me around their home later, he came across several old pictures of Grandma Winnie in their bedroom and I'll never forget his words to me. He said, "Isn't she one of the most beautiful women you've ever seen?" He looked at her so adoringly and told me several stories from their younger days. He told me how she was always the prettiest woman in a group and he was so proud that she was his wife. I melted hearing their love story and obviously, my thoughts of Grandpa Jim changed. He wasn't THAT hard on the inside.  ;-)  I actually grew to have a tremendous amount of respect for him for so many different reasons and really admired that strong personality that he had, probably because I came to realize that we shared a similar personality.  :-)  I'm thankful that I really took the time to get to know him.  I'm thankful for the time we shared together, the stories we shared and look forward to sharing many memories with Tyler and Kinley.  

Back when I first met Grandpa Jim and Grandma Winnie- walking through their neighborhood~

Fast forward and how could you not love this man? Just a moment before this picture was taken, he told me that he had only ever seen one bride prettier than I was and that was his wife.  ~Melt~

One of our fishing trips together and one of my favorite pictures that I took of him.

Grandpa Jim out fishing a group of 15 younger men at Travis' bachelor party.  :-)  He was one of the toughest guys I've known. 

This was the beautiful sunset from the day that Grandpa Jim left us.  It was beautiful for a reason...  We're going to miss him.