Day 71

Drawing of the day from a long break. My grandfather recently passed away from Alzheimer's and I went back for his funeral. He lived a very full and honorable life worthy of a celebration. I had been aware of my grandfather's condition for about 5 years, so I thought I had slowly come to terms with his illness. At the end of every Alzheimer's patient, is a very slow, cruel death. I might sound harsh, but I was relieved when he passed away. He was released from his cage. When I arrived to his funeral to see "Pappy" I immediately broke down in uncontrollable tears. I had lost one of the greatest people I have even known in my life. The week had incredible highs - hanging with a wonderful family that he started and see my grandmother strength grow far beyond her own beliefs, and the obvious lows - dealing with the loss. All in all, I am very glad that I was able to go back and be there for everything.

After an emotionally fueled week, I was ready to come back and think about something else for a while. One of the greatest things about the whole process was after the funeral, where we were able to look through all of the photo albums my grandparents and take any of the photos that we wanted. This was a truly special gift to me, since my life is focused around images. I was able to look through all of the 80+ years of my grandfathers life. From his baby pictures, to his rowdy teenage years, to the years he played football (was offered to play for the New York Giants), to being a family man, and to being the grandfather I loved. So my goal was to honor my grandfather little bit in my blog by doing a drawing of him.

So when I returned to Ft. Collins. I was very excited to show my wife the amazing photos of my grandfather's life. After flipping through just a couple of photos, I broke down and was unable to continue looking at the pictures. It's still too early for me...

Instead of doing a drawing of my grandfather, I did a drawing from James Bama (who my grandfather knew) of a man that resembles my grandfather. At the age of 49 years old, my grandfather left his life in Pennsylvania to start a new one (as a cowboy!) in Wyoming. Inspiring my mother and father to move out a year later.

So for now, this one is for you Pappy...