MY GRANDPA

My grandpa, George William Daniel, passed Sunday morning around 5:30 a.m. This man has ment the world to me. My entire life he has been a huge part of me, who i am today, and who i will be tomorrow. Words cannot express how sad i am about his passing, but i do know that he is in a better place now, and with my granny. Who we had lost some years back.

Due to us not knowing about his sickness, i found out last weekend that just before Christmas he was diagnosed with pneumonia, and ended up with double pneumonia. They were trying to give him antibiotics but his body became immune to them and they were no good. So slowly over the next month his body began becoming one large infection. Now, i am no doctor but i believe that the organs started to shut down as the infection was eating at them.
Unfortunately, i did not know any of this until last weekend. My aunt and uncle for Arizona were in town for Valentines Day weekend.
They ventured their way up to see my grandfather, and from there the phone calls began. They had called my mom to see if we had know what was going on? Which in turn, we all soon found out the severity of the situation.
Their phone call was on Saturday evening and Sunday morning we woke up and headed to Akron, Stow, what ever you call it???
I got to spend about an hour and a half with my grandpa. We had to wear masks, a gown and gloves because the infection was so contagious in him that he could get any of us sick.
So i walked into the room and said "Grandpa, its Leslie", he looked puzzled, so i lifted my mask and showed him my face. He grew tears in his eyes and tried to sit up.
With no strength he fell back into the bed, and i reached over and hugged him for probably 3 minutes. I couldn't let go.... I sat down and mom, dad and my sister came into the room. We laughed we joked and we cried together.
You see there is a secret that is not so much a secret anymore, i had always known i had a place in my grandpa's heart that was different from how he felt about his other granddaughters. But come to find out he made it abundantly clear that i was his favorite GRANDCHILD....
WOOOOW, is all i can say. To take that position in some ones heart means the world to me.
We recalled old times, and him living in Port Clinton, Driving truck in his younger years and being married to my granny, his first marriage and the children from that and most importantly about what life had to offer.
I told him about my two boys, which he remembered meeting.
Close to leaving, my dad had made the comment that we would be back in a month to see him.... His exact words were " A month....huh...." And from that moment on i knew that this would be my last time i ever see him alive. As we left i just kept reminding him how much i loved him and i stood in the door way, removing my gown and gloves, watching him watch me. Knowing that he and i both know that that was the last look, stare, moment that we would have.....
And with that we headed back to Oak Harbor, i didn't cry, i finally felt peace with seeing him and he actually being there mentally.
The week carried on and I knew the next time i got a phone call would be bad news. We did not get any updates and as they say No news is good news, well in this case that was definately not the truth. By Sunday morning his body had started to shut down. It was hard for him to breathe. He stayed asleep the whole time. Never woke and was never in any pain, so they say. But he took his final breath around 5:30a.m. With one louder that the rest final sigh, he was gone. My uncle was there with him and has passed this information on to us, to let us make peace with it also.

Unfortunately, i did not know any of this had gone on until 17 hours after he passed my mom had to call me to let me know.
All i could do was cry, cry, cry. I cried so hard i couldnt breathe. So hard my head pounded for most of the night. So all i could do was lay there and remember the times we had together, especially when i was younger, and the last time we had together.
I knew it was coming, i had tried to prepare myself for it, but nothing you do prepares you for death.......
And with that he is gone, mind, body and soul. All i have are my memories. Some of the best memories that i will hold dear to my heart.

Grandpa I love you so much, i hope i got that across to you the last time we were together. I am extremely sorry that i was not always there for you in the end but distance holds no boundaries for love. I am sad you are gone but i know you are in a better place. Please watch over me and take care of the ones i love as we journey through life. You are always in my heart......

I love you.....

My grandfather, Breydan and I early 2008.



Another one of the three of us.




Grandpa, my niece Chloe and my son Ashton
My grandpa and my sister in law, Lynette with my youngest

Grandpa and my brother Bob