My Grandfather

Well as most of you probably know my grandfather (Mum's Dad) Bill McLean passed away the day after my last post. I am glad that we all got to see him and I had a really nice talk with him about going back to school and the kids the first night I got there. I am also glad that he got to see Jake again and meet Mari. I am glad that he didn't have to suffer as some do with a long drawn out battle with cancer. I am glad that he was surrounded by family. I am glad that I had 27 years to get to know him. I have many fond memories of baking bread and picking elder berries with him when he would come visit us in the summer. He will be missed. He already is missed. It is still very surreal. It is taking a while to sink in. He was in the hospital before we arrived and the day we got to Dunoon they had moved him to the hospice there. It was easy to just 'pretend' he was still at the hospice. But then we went to the airport and it hit me that we could not come back and see him ever again. Airports were generally a big part of my summers. I can remember us going to pick him up at the airport and going to take him back to the airport, occasionally he would come pick us up and take us back to the airport when we came to see him and Gran. Many people have told me how lucky I was to have even known my grandfather. I have been fortunate to know all four of my grandparents and several of my great grandparents. But death is not an easy thing at any age or stage of life. Seventy-seven does not feel like very old any more. The fact that I realize I am lucky to have known him does not make loosing him easier. I have not really known what to say for a long time and I don't feel like I have expressed my self well in this post. It was mainly to explain why I haven't posted for a while and why I haven't posted any more of the millions of pictures that I took in Scotland. It seems strange even looking at them. Maybe I will post them one day, maybe I won't. I still haven't decided. But regardless, now doesn't feel like the right time.