Remembering Grandpa Walter

 Day 101 - January 14, 2011

Walter Irving was 93 and was living in an assisted living home.  When Grandma Barbara died a few years ago, my family went down to San Francisco for the funeral.  It was such a strange service because it was just our family and my Aunt's family.  My Grandparents had moved to San Francisco from out past Stockton a few years earlier.  They had outlived most of their friends, and the ones who were still alive weren't able to get around so well, so the funeral was attended by 10 people.  My folks said they were still glad we did it because Grandpa needed to say goodbye to his wife.  It seemed so strange to put together a service for just our family.  So we all decided that it wouldn't quite be appropriate to do that when Grandpa passed away.

Add caption

He died just before Christmas.  It was not a surprise.  We did not get the two families together and we did not hold a funeral.  Grandpa had outlived most of his friends and we would only be holding a service for us.

 I've only ever seen Grandpa eat three things: Pillsbury Toaster Strudel (but he only called them "Gizmos"), tomatoes from his garden, and ice cream.   He LOVED ice cream sundaes.  So we all agreed that we would make ice cream sundaes in honor of him.

I still have a strange mix of feelings about all this.  We were all prepared for this and could see it coming from a ways off.  Grandpa had lived a very long life full of friends and travel.  But, for the last few years, his quality of life and been declining and he was having more trouble getting around and going through a regular routine.  I'm still not sure how I feel.

But ice cream does make me feel a little bit happier.