Cora's First Dodger Game

We were back down in southern California again this past weekend for my Grandpa Wilber's memorial. One bright moment of this weekend? Cora got to meet her Uncle Scott and Aunt Coco for the first time!

With grandpa's burial on Friday and memorial on Saturday, our family wanted to go to a Dodger game and eat a Dodger Dog in his honor. I honestly believe he wouldn't have had it any other way.

It was really rainy and cold all day Friday, but we were determined to go and to sneak a sign in honoring grandpa. We drove down to the game in two cars, and Stu, Cora, and I had to stop off at Michelle's to get some Dodger gear for the game. Cora has a Dodger shirt. Her parents? Well, that's a different story.

Funny story: When we were almost to the stadium my dad called to let me know that the tickets he bought were actually for Saturday, not Friday...oops! My mom also totally got caught with the sign, but Coco was successful.

My dad quickly scalped some killer seats, and we sat freezing our butts off, eating Dodger Dogs, telling stories of grandpa, and watching the Dodgers win. It was a wonderful way to remember. We were laughing, telling stories, and remembering. Most importantly, we were together.

Bundled up, Scott in Grandpa's jersey, Contraband sign

Dodgers Win!, 7th Inning stretch, What Up?, Awesome seats, Cora and Grandpa

Saying Goodbye

This weekend we drove home to Camarillo to say goodbye to my Grandpa Wilber. While it was really hard to say goodbye, I'm thankful we had the chance. He died on April 4th, 2012.

Cora meets her Great Grandparents (Christmas 2011)

In many ways the grandpa I knew had been gone for a while. As Parkinsons took over his body, and a few strokes made it difficult to communicate, his quality of life had deteriorated. For the past few years now each holiday with grandpa could have been our last, but I knew that it was serious when my mom called a couple Sundays ago and asked us to come say goodbye.

Seeing him was hard. There was a mass in his brain that was making it hard for him to swallow much less communicate, so we sat with him. I told Cora stories about how wonderful he was.

I told him that we would always tell Cora about what a patient, tenacious, joyful man her great-grandpa was. How he took every downturn of his sickness with faith and peace.

I told Stu and Cora about our last trip to Tahoe together as a family, before grandpa's Parkinsons got really bad, and how we all went parasailing together while grandma stood on the dock terrified, refusing to watch. I'm pretty sure that was his favorite way to see the lake. I told them about how despite my many, frequent tantrums growing up at his house, he never once yelled at me or raised his voice. I told them about our summers, meeting up every Thursday for "Grandma and Grandpa Day!" adventures. How we would play baseball in the field next to their house, sit at the beach all day, go out for ice cream, or play mini-golf at Golf-N-Stuff.

We made promises to play trac-ball in Lake Tahoe at Camp Richardson, to go camping in Yosemite, and to teach Cora to love the Dodgers despite growing up in northern California.

Wearing Dodger Blue in honor of Great-Grandpa. 4/4/12

We told him that we loved him and that his daughter, Janice, was waiting so impatiently for him to join her in heaven. And then we kissed him goodbye.

I love you grandpa. We'll see you soon.