Love For Grandpa Mackay

I didn't post at all last week because just as we were getting our lives put back together after our Spring Break extravaganza in Utah, Alan and I got the call and flew back up for his Grandpa's funeral. The trip was fast and furious and freezing but I am so glad we made it. All of the grand kids were there except for one of Alan's young cousins who is on his mission. Alan had a very special relationship with his Grandpa - they shared the same birthday and Alan was the first grandson to go on a mission, to get married and have kids.

The day after Alan and I were engaged - my last grandparent, my Grandma Goodman, died unexpectedly in our home. It was weird for me to be grandparent-less. A few weeks later, Alan and I went to Salt Lake where his parents were throwing us an engagement party. That night, Grandma and Grandpa Mackay took me aside and told me that they had heard about my Grandma and that they were going to be my grandparents so I wouldn't be grandparent-less anymore. In the last 16 years, I can not think of a time that they did not treat me as one of their own.

The funeral was beautiful. Grandpa loved a male chorus and he loved the song Ye Elders of Israel so all of the grandsons and grandsons-in-law sang that. There were bagpipes at the cemetery as well as a military honor guard. We were all freezing but it was so beautiful with all of the trees dusted in snow. The morning of the funeral - Alan had to go out and scrape all of the ice and snow off of his mom's car that we were using. That is my favorite thing to say about living in Arizona - we never have to scrape the sunshine off of our windshields or shovel it off of our walk. It is hard to believe that this is the same backyard and trampoline that the kids were playing on just a week prior. I guess it is harder for us to believe that the weather was so nice the whole time we were there for Spring Break.

Thanks again to Jen and Mike for letting us crash in their basement. It feels like that bedroom down there is ours and we should consider leaving a toothbrush and other essentials down there.