You Will Be Forever Missed....

  I've been mostly MIA for the past two weeks. We had to say good-bye to my Grandpa. My only Grandpa really. I grew up with a Great-Grandfather in MN and another in Boulder. Sadly they both passed when I was entering my teens so really Grandpa was it in the grandfather department and he wore that role wonderfully.

  Long story short, he was amazing and the kind of man I want my boys to grow up to be. Hard-working, honest, trust worthy, family man, caring and loving. We're all going to miss him  He really was wonderful and I really am going to miss him like crazy but we'll all be okay. We'll all be pitching in to help Grandma and that's where I'll be spending my Mondays from now on. She's wonderful and I'm looking forward to spending time with her and helping with anything she might need, even if it's just watching "her shows".

  I wish Grandpa would be with us; through losing him though, I gained a huge amount of love for humanity. You see, my dad lives in Hawaii. Maui, the Big Island. It's kind of a tropical paradise, unless you are unexpectedly call home for the unimaginable then it's not quite such an oasis. It really is an island, thousands of miles away. Unfortunately Grandpa's passing was in between pay periods for everyone (not that there is ever a convenient time but if there was, this wasn't it) and getting Dad home for an affordable price just didn't seem possible. I decided to take a Leap of "Faith" and post the following on Facebook:

My dad lives in Maui and sadly my grandfather (his dad) passed away unexpectedly on Sunday. Getting my dad here in time for the funeral Monday will be $1000-1300. I'm hoping my wonderful connections in Facebook Land will have frequent flyer miles they would be willing donate to get my dad home in time. I now it's a long shot but I have a daughter named Faith for a reason..... 

  And I do have a daughter named Faith for a reason. My mom passed away December 10, 2004 when I was just 16 weeks pregnant with Faith. At the time we didn't know what we having but on January 16, 2005 we had an ultrasound and found out we were having a girl. It also happened to be my mom's 45th birthday that day. I purposely scheduled it on her birthday. She had been with me to every other important doctor's appointment with the other children and I couldn't imagine her heart would have been anywhere else that day, at least for that hour anyway. I was keeping faith in how I dealt with my mom's passing and it took a great amount of faith. When it came time to name our baby girl, it just HAD to be Faith. And here I was, another death and needing faith more than ever.

  Riding on that thought, I started messaging what were all scams for frequent flier miles on Craigslist and in the middle of dealing with finding nothing but scam after scam, I received a message in a photography forum. Another photographer who lives in Alaska was willing to donate miles and then my phone rang. My best-friend of over 20 years used to ski; as in went to the Para-Olympics several times, used to ski and she has wonderful friends she's made skiing over the years. Well, one of her skiing buddies saw my post and wanted to donate miles! Between Jennifer at Little Moments Photography all the way in Juneau, Alaska and a gentleman I had never heard of Chris, who is training in Honduras; my dad's flight was covered!

  Through our family's time of sadness, there was a showing of humanity that was amazing. I can never thank these two enough for what they did for my entire family but you better believe I will never forget. Neither of these two individuals want anything in return. Really, I'm not sure they even want a public recognition but they deserve it anyway. Jennifer is just one of those genuine people with a heart of gold and I NEED to get to Alaska at some point. I want to meet her in person even more so now! Hannah's friend Chris, he would just like me to pass along the favor someday.... he also has a daughter named, Faith.........

  Our family losing our patriarch of the family can never be changed nor can the changes that will come from losing someone so adored but finding people like this in the world, helps cushion the blow...

We love you Grandpa!



Sands of Time Photos. All rights reserved. © Maira Gall.