Life Update

Wow, blogging has been on the back burner for quite some time now, I am currently 2 hours away from completing a night shift, call bells are quiet, and all my patients are asleep, so I am going to take this rare moment of bliss to blog.

Where to even begin, my last REAL update was last summer more than a year ago, and life has changed so much - some parts good and some parts not great. To get the hard stuff out of the way, my precious grandpa Vyn passed away in October, to try and explain in a blog post how dear this man was to me is not possible. I am his eldest grandchild and we had quite the bond, there is a huge hole in our family that we are now filling with memories, laughter, tears, and a lot of get togethers. Grief is a funny thing, and it will hit me when I least expect it and not appear when I think it will. There are no text book metaphors to adequately describe the feeling of grief, no way to put it in words - but if you have experienced it, then you get it, if you haven't yet, count it as a blessing. To try and blog anything more than this seems futile, I had the amazing opportunity to give my grandfathers eulogy at his funeral so i will end this post by posting that - I hope it gives you a small glimpse into the great man Peter Vyn was.

To sum up a man as great as my grandfather in a 5 minute speech is a difficult thing, it is hard to sit down and compile 25 years of memories and what you will hear today is just a glimpse of the impact that Peter Vyn had on our lives. During our last conversation grandpa told me that he loved me with his whole heart, which I don’t doubt for a second because grandpa did all things whole heartedly, whether it was tearing up concrete, loading wood, fixing my dads lawnmower …again, cutting his lawn, working in his garden, or fishing – all were done with sincerity, preciseness, and no complaining.

While living in the states phone calls with grandpa were a cherished thing they would all start with “How are ya kid?” I would say good and he would say “your looking good too”  and they would always end with “love ya kiddo” He was always quick to remind how much he loved us, even in his last days any time you would enter the room he would pucker up his lips for a kiss.

You were not officially a vyn grandchild until you had visited the warplane heritage meuseum with grandpa – though I never did get my own membership (it was probably too expensive) – depending on the day a “Mary Vyn” membership card holder would look like one of the eleven of us. Grandpa would talk endlessly about the planes, their function, the pilot and their purpose. His favorite reply to any question he would ask you would be “I don’t know” which he then  took as permission to explain things further. Many memories of heading to grandma and grandpas backyard to watch the air show each summer, grandpa could tell you what the plane was even before it came into view.

It was a dangerous thing to yawn in front of grandpa, it was usually proceeded by this question “Are you tired? What time did you get up this morning” and no matter how early you were up, grandpa was up earlier and had accomplished a list of tasks longer than most would do in a week. He had a saying “early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Of course when your early to bed is falling asleep before the 6 0clcok news is over, its no wonder he would be up before the sun.  

Though grandpa had many strengths one of his weaknesses was board games, especially Pictionary, regardless of the word all of grandpa’s drawings took an ambiguous shape which was unrecognizable – and instead of adding more detail when people were not guessing correctly he would frantically point with his pen in the hopes that it would some how click for someone.

Grandpa had so many admirable qualities that will carry on in each one of the eleven grandchildren from his work ethic, to his receding hair line (sorry mike) on Sunday we all sat together and talked about our favorite memories of grandpa, all where shared with a smile a lot included fishing and going up north. We were all fortunate to spend alot of one on one time with grandpa  over the years, over coffee at tims, in the car on the way to church, in a boat in the middle of a lake, breakfast at the egg and I, working out, watching hockey, playing hockey.

We all learned so much from grandpa – how to fish, how to garden, how to make straight lines when cutting the grass, how to fix something that is broken, not to eat too many raw green beans, how to love through action, how to sit and observe, -  there are too many things to name. We were lucky to have such an active and involved grandfather. When spending time with grandpa you knew you had his full attention he was always interested in knowing what you were up to.

Grandma we love you and we are here for you, I just wanted to address my thanks today for showing me what it is to be a wife, for showing me the fulfillment of wedding vows “in sickness and in health” you have handled yourself with grace, strength and love. Grandpa loved you so much, it was evident in the way that he looked at you – and how often he came over or called whenever you were on vacation. 

Grandpa we miss you, there is a big hole in our family which we will do our best to fill with memories of you – we have a ton.  We are thankful for the time that we had with you, we are thankful that you didn’t have to suffer long, we are thankful for your love of Jesus and thankful knowing that you are in heaven – thankful that this isn’t goodbye but see ya later.