Sadness

This morning I received a phone call from my mother letting me know that my grandfather, Bob died early this morning. I don't know all the details; but basically, he died while he was getting back in bed.

Yes, we called him "Bob". I don't know when or who started it. But I know that my mom's mother didn't want to be called "Mama" so she made her children call her by her first name and thus, her grandchildren followed suit. I can only imagine that the same was true for Bob. I loved getting to call him Bob. It always made me feel like a grown-up. Later on in life, I found out that in Albanian, "Bob" is a term of endearment for a man from a child...it fits like a glove!

Anyway, Bob was always good for a good story. Either one that he could tell you (that would go many different tangents and would last for quite awhile) or one that was told about him.

One that was shared with me over the weekend, was how he decided that he'd had enough of my grandmother's cast driving her crazy and so he used a circular saw to try to remove it himself. Thankfully, he was only successful in removing about six inches before my aunt arrived to save my grandmother arm from amputation.

He was a pilot in WWII and prior to that, he was an agricultural graduate from Iowa State University. For extra money, he would catalog species of spiders for the biology department and ended up discovering a new variety that was named for him, "Newcomb Spider." I always took great pride in that accomplishment.

His "garden" was something to marvel at. It is nearly an acre in size and we always ate from the bounty he created as children. His corn, potatos, scupernongs, blueberries and eventually kiwi's would fill our bellys. And it gave us a great activity to go and help in his garden in the mornings. He was a renaissance man as he could fix, grow or teach you about the world around you in a very small amount of time.

I am really going to miss him and the color that he brought to our lives. One of the saddest thing for me, is that I won't be able to ask about "Mimi and Bob" anymore. It will just be "Mimi". When will that feel normal? Ever?

I have several great pictures of Bob, but my scanner is not working for some reason. If I can, I will post some pictures tomorrow.

His funeral will be on Thursday.