Grandpa Cliff's Funeral Pt. 2

So I realize its been a long time since my last post, but better late than never I suppose. Unfortunately the details have faded a little bit but I will just write down a couple of things that have stuck with me.

I left off at that fateful phone call informing Michelle, Donny, Ally, and myself that my grandfather Cliff had just died. It was such a striking contrast to the good news we had just received minutes early that we didn't know what to think. Of course when I find out that someone has pulled through I feel relieved but there is always the possibility that something can still go wrong, but when we find out someone has died there's really no chance of things getting better. For instance there's no chance of getting a phone call ten minutes later saying "Oh nevermind, turns out he came back to life after all." After the second phone call I just felt a big rush of emptiness knowing that there was no chance of the outcome changing, just knowing that I would never receive another phone call about grandpa Cliff again.

The next couple of days were filled with aunts and uncles flying in to start planning the funeral. Luckily my grandparents had the foresight to buy a funeral plot years ago for a fraction of the current price. This lifted the financial burden a great deal from what it could have been. It's astounding what it costs to die.

On Sunday Ally and I drove back to Santa Barbara since Ally had to be back for some labs she couldn't miss. Luckily I was able to free up my schedule to drive back on Tuesday for a Dinner with the family. It was really good to see everybody. I especially liked sleeping at my parents house with David and Sara again. It seems like its been forever since we were all living there together. We stayed up late joking around and having lots of fun, it was something I really needed. the next day we went to the church on Cherry for the viewing and funeral. The viewing was more of just a family event. Everybody there probably hadn't been together in the same room for at least ten years. The last time I remember that happening was Cliff and June's 50th anniversary. It's odd that I usually don't cry or even feel too much when I hear that someone has died, but come time for the funeral I usually can't hold back. The funeral itself was really nice. I learned a lot of new things I about my grandpa that I had never heard before.

One of my favorite stories told was told by my uncle Kim. It was about when Cliff went with his son Brent to by Brent's first used car. The guy who was selling the car worked at the mall and had told them to come by and he would give them the keys to test drive the car in the parking lot. When Brent got into the car he shifted into first and the car just barely inched forward and wasn't very responsive at all. So they went right back to the seller and my grandpa handed him the keys and said, "nevermind we don't want it, its got engine problems". As they were walking aways the guy said, "well wait a minute, I know its got some problems but maybe we can talk about the price." So they got a much reduced price and as Brent got into his new car to drive home my Grandpa pulls up next to him and said, "By the way, this is a special edition car and the gear box is a little wider than you're used to so what you thought was first gear last time I suspect was third. So try pulling over a little more to the left this time." He did just that and the car worked just fine. This story was just so funny to me, and it was a side of my grandpa I never really got to know. There were so many other great things said that I can't remember, but just by seeing everyone who was there and judging by what everyone felt and said about Cliff I could just feel that this man truly had lived a good life. I realized that while he had not done some of the things that most of the world views as important, he had raised a good large family and had truly loved them. Being at his funeral made me realize that truly the most important thing a person can have at the end of their life is a family that loves them. If that family happens to be large as in the case of my grandpa Cliff, then there's only all the more people and love to go around. Also, because Cliff and June have raised such a wonderful family there's only all the more people to love and take care of my grandma after Cliff's passing. There are so many people I know that say they don't want a family, or want to wait a long time to have a family and then don't get around to having one, or they just think about how expensive kids are. Going to my grandpa's funeral made me realize how important family, especially as I get older.