More random memories of Grandpa

More random memories of Grandpa:

*When Jonathon and I got engaged, I called one night and asked if Grandpa could keep his eyes out for a couch for us to use in our first apartment at the garage sales he loved to go to. He sounded grumpy but said 'okay.' The next morning he called us at 8 o'clock and told us to come pick up this couch he'd bought at a yard sale. I couldn't believe it!
*He came to all my lacrosse games, basketball games, and band performances. Every birthday dinner. Paid for every boating trip to Lake Powell, 4th of July breakfast, and annual Richards Golf Tournament. Even though at the end of them, he'd always seem grumpy and wanting to go home, you know he loved getting to be there and wouldn't miss it for the world.
*He helped my mom fix her car and house so many times when she came to him needing help
*He came up to Portland for my wedding in the Portland temple
*He was the first person I wrote about in my first journal when i was 8 years old. I wrote about how my grandpa sent me a $50 bill (I had never seen one in person before!) because he couldn't come to my baptism and that was the COOLEST THING.
*When Grandpa told me I had left my hotmail email account open on his computer and he saw I had 754 unread messages so he tried to delete them all. Thank goodness he couldn't figure it out.. He was amazed I could have so many unread emails. I've been working on that investment for years!
*Grandpa loved those little hard Oats n' Honey granola bars in the green packaging. I loved them with him.
*Grandpa always laughed when I'd come over and head straight for the "candy drawer" in the corner of their kitchen and tell me something about how he couldn't believe a dental hygienist could love candy so much and how I must have ten cavities with all the candy I eat.
*He loved his stupid dog Koko. A stinky black pug that he picked out himself at the pound. About a week after their dog Canon died, Grandpa came home with Koko. I researched the pug breed and found listing after listing of how they are smelly, mis-behaved, shedding, farting, snoring, stubborn dogs. And Grandpa LOVED her. She'd fall asleep on his lap all the time. She was his little girl. He especially loved that she didn't bark, unlike Cosmo. :) He hated how Cosmo barked so much and even bought him a bark collar once that Grandma refused to put on him because she thought it was inhumane.
*In my semi-final lacrosse game, during warm-ups, my grandpa came walking across the field from the fan side to where we were practicing. He told me "Nancy, when you captains go to the middle to flip for which side to take first, you need to shoot South first. In 45 minutes, the sun will be setting and will go right into the other goalie's eyes and she won't be able to stop your shots. You understand me?" When the time came, I called for heads and we won the toss. Following my Grandpa's advice, we shot South first. Grandpa always claimed he won that game for us. Haha. Some old guy sitting on the sideline won the game without even lifting a finger! :)
*Every summer our family went to Lake Powell. When we were younger, my grandpa would let us sit on his lap and drive the boat. We all loved this. We also loved how he would create the BEST waves for us to go over and try to throw us off the tube. His boat was named "Tooth Fairy."
*When I was little, I LOVED going to Grandpa's dental office because of the treasure chest. My favorite thing in the world was the rings. They were just those little 25 cent fancy looking rings for little girls. And since I was his grand daughter, I could take as many as I wanted. I took at least one for each finger every time. :)

Sigh, I want to write down everything I can remember for fear of forgetting it down the road as I get older. I love my Grandpa and I'm grateful I was old enough to get to know him on a more personal level before he died. Even now that he is gone, I've continued to learn things from him and about him that amaze me. He is the closest person I've ever had in my life to die. It leads one to wonder about what happens after death and makes the Atonement and the Plan of Salvation so much more meaningful, important, and personal. I know if we live our lives right, we'll be together again.

People keep asking if I'm okay and I feel like.. I can't say I feel TOO sad or bad. Of course it'll be hard not having him around, but he lived a long, successful, great life and got to "go" in a relatively easy way without much suffering. He got to enjoy life by eating whatever he wanted, drinking soda, not exercising, going on cruises, didn't get so old that he couldn't drive anymore, didn't have to experience being a "vegetable" at all or deal with losing his pride in having to wear Depends. He had started having episodes of Alzheimers more recently and who knows how hard that would have been down the road.. He had his stroke shortly after an amazing three week cruise to Europe and South America. He didn't have to suffer much pain and yet lived long enough after the stroke to allow time for his family and friends to accept our loss and say goodbye; so it wasn't completely unexpected.

I felt peace when I said goodbye to my grandpa. I'm happy for him to be able to move on the the next step of life, where he doesn't have any pain or worries. I'm grateful for everything he taught me and continues to teach me through the way he lived his life. I love you Grandpa!

Ways Grandpa and Grandma Richards helped us through school

Grandpa and Grandma helped me and Jonathon get through school probably more than anyone else (besides my mom who has allowed us to live at her place to save money and pay tuition--thanks mom!). They were not able to help us pay for school financially, but they helped us in ways that were equally important at that time of our lives. Words cannot express how grateful we are for them. Here are just a few ways:

1) They let Cosmo stay at their house for about 1 1/2 years while we had an apartment that didn't allow dogs. Cosmo loved them both but especially Grandma and felt like he had to "protect" her every time Grandpa came in the room and he'd bark his head off at him. Cosmo also had a "marking territory" problem and basically owned their house, which we felt REALLY bad about. I know this wasn't easy or convenient for them, but they knew it was a way they could help us at a time in need instead of us having to give Cosmo away. :( That would have broke my heart.

2) They let us borrow a car ANY TIME we needed it. Our car Lexie broke down NUMEROUS times during school and every time, we would call them up and they'd let us borrow one of their cars, even if it meant they would have to find rides to get around. They knew how much we needed it and would appreciate it. They even let us borrow their big, old suburban for about 3 months to finish the school year out. Every time we started up that old suburban, everything about it reminded us of Gene! It was a big, loud, sturdy car that was always there for us when we needed it. Grandpa and Grandma were genuinely SO EXCITED for us to finally get a new car that worked - not just because now they wouldn't have to lend theirs, but because they saw all the struggles we'd been through and how we were really trying our best to pay for school and save our money.

3) They let us do laundry at their place anytime.

4) They let us come over and eat. This was Jonathon's favorite. Every time we went over, Grandma would tell him to help himself to whatever they had, and he would! She also would make YUMMY dinners and send us home with left overs. Grandma loved having us over because we would compliment her meals so much-- they were always so good! Since we didn't have much money, we usually ate Top Ramen (or TR as we called it) or some other cheap stuff. Needless to say, we always felt like we were eating like KINGS at Grandma's house and I think that made Grandma feel good. :)

5) They treated us by taking us OUT to eat. The first time Jonathon met Grandma and Grandpa, they took us to Chuck-a-Rama. One of our favorites was when the four of us went to Famous Dave's BBQ. We had a great time and Grandpa and Grandma's eyes were sparkling as they told us all their stories.

6) They were great examples for us. Grandpa loved his family. He supported his family his entire life financially, emotionally, and spiritually. He was smart and was a doctor of dentistry. This allowed him to provide a great life for his family and provide opportunities for success. They love the gospel. I am constantly amazed by Grandma's testimony and how knowledgable she is in the Gospel. Grandpa was very honest- one time at our 4th of July breakfast up at Brighton, he needed to pay for someone's breakfast from the year before that hadn't been paid for. The kid helping him told him not to worry about it but he INSISTED he pay to make it right. And they love America and what it represents, that's why Grandpa loved bald eagles so much.

7) They listened to us and we all had some GREAT conversations. I can't count how many nights Jonathon and I stayed up talking with Grandpa and Grandma in their front room. We heard all of Grandpa's jokes and stories at least a couple times, and got advice from them. Grandpa and Grandma LOVED Jonathon because he is as big of a BYU fan as they are, which is hard to do!

My new blog

I've decided to create a blog to track my running and training for my marathon I'll be running in June.

happyrunningduck.blogspot.com

Enjoy! :)