When it's not fun to go home...

This is my Grandpa LeFevre. Tomorrow (22nd) is his birthday. He would have turned 71. But he died on the first of this month. This is the most recent picture I have of him. Yeah, that's little 6 week old baby Tripp. I used to pride myself about still having all 4 of my grandparents still living. Now I am down to 3. It's hard to write this without crying, but I feel like more people should know about Grandpa and how much he was loved. Two words that best describe Grandpa: Flannel and candy. That is why they are on top of his casket. Grandpa loved candy so much that he called it medicine. I remember as a child falling off my bike and skinning my knee. Grandpa brought me some "medicine" to make me feel better.
He didn't like flowers. My aunt and the rest of us thought a candy bouquet was more fitting for him. Grandpa was number 7 out of 14 children. They didn't have alot of money growing up and he told us that they would use dried cow pies as frisbees. When Grandpa was a child, he was diagnosed with Polio. One of his legs was significantly shorter than the other which caused him to walk with a limp his entire life. My cousin Victor spoke at the funeral and told the story of how Grandpa would take me, Zayna, and Victor to get coffee with him in the morning. And the funny stares we would get cuz all of us followed Grandpa into the cafe, in a line, walking with a limp just like he did. He always bought us hot chocolate and occasionally we could talk him into buying us some fries as well.

It was hard for me being at Grandpa's house after the funeral. It just felt like he was going to walk in the back door from feeding the animals or walk down the hall with a bag of candy to share with everyone at any moment. Grandpa was generous. I think just about all of his children have lived with him at one time or another as adults. My family lived with him while we were building our house. I remember hearing him laugh at me every morning as I ran into the kitchen, grabbed my breakfast, and ran to school. He was usually smoking at the table and I was trying to avoid getting the smoke smell on me. Not sure if you can see it in the picture above, but I have a ribbon on my shirt with a mini Twix in the middle of it. All of my family members were wearing ribbons like these and several of my cousins wore Grandpa's flannel shirts to the funeral.
Notice how he is only picking out the suckers. Can anyone say "addict." It was just Deko and I who went to Idaho, since he is free on the plane.

My sisters. Funny how we are in order from youngest to oldest.

Darcy, Tera, Me, and Zayna


And this is where the kids hung out during lunch. -right next to the candy bucket.



Grandma Chidester (who just went through breast cancer), me, and my Mom



I went to a "hat and wig" party for her while I was there, but I'll include those pics in a different post.



Not sure if there are any easy funerals. They make me realize how short life really is. Grandpa you were loved and I can't wait to see you again.