Goodbye Grandpa.

Last week my grandpa passed away.  He had been having a lot of health problems, but it still was surprising news that it was bad enough to be a life or death situation.  The whole funeral service turned out really nice and every part just made me think about how neat of a person my grandpa was.  My whole family also put little notes inside his coffin at the funeral and I wrote mine, but then I forgot to bring it with me when we all said the last goodbyes.  But I know he’s still here with me so here’s my letter to you grandpa :)

Dear grandpa,

Thank you for taking the time to be a part of my life.  I know it’s not easy to be a big influence on all your grandchildren’s lives, but you really made a point of being there and it made a difference for me.  I loved all the times we spent together and grandpa time tickets were the best thing EVER.  The Tran Siberian Orchestra concert was probably a little louder than you thought it’d be and it probably wouldn’t have been your first choice, but you told me you had a good time anyways :)  The plays we went to at Hale Center Theatre were all so much fun and I loved being able to get lots of treats during the plays because my mom never let me when I went with her.  And I loved that whenever we went out to eat, you always let me choose where I wanted to go most.

You were always so easy to talk to, and mainly because you genuinely cared about me and what was going on in my life.  You knew a lot about what was going on with me, even though I didn’t see you a lot, because you took the time to listen.  One of my best memories of you was going over to your house one day to drop off something, and I ended up staying for an hour or two just talking with you.  After the usual update on my life, we somehow ended up talking about how you met grandma and how you fell in love.  It was so fun for me to hear you talk a little more about your life when you were younger and I related to you in a new way after that.

Anyways, there are so many other memories that I could talk about, but grandpa just know you really were an incredible person.  You made a difference in a lot of people’s lives, including mine.  I’m going to miss you a lot, but I know you’re happy and with Heavenly Father.  I love you so much and I’ll see you again soon :)

Love, Annie.

Little Note to the Mailman.

Today I went out to the mailbox not really expecting anything, but hoping, and hoping more than I thought I guess because I was fairly disappointed when I opened up the mailbox and saw a stupid ad postcard and a home magazine.  Both for my mom.  How lame is that??!!  I mean I can’t always get the letters I want exactly, but at least a coupon or wedding announcement or SOMETHING would be nice. 

But anyways it just got me thinking.  It doesn’t really seem fair to give all that power in the hands of one person ya know??  I remember one time specifically a few months ago when there was one certain letter I wanted SOOO badly and my extremely frustrating college dorm mailman didn’t come till 8 p.m.  8 AT NIGHT!!! 

And there was definitely more than once last semester where I sat out in the kitchen doing my homework right by the window where I could watch exactly when the mailman came and then creepily waited right by him until he finished putting the mail in each of my dorm’s mailboxes.  And then after all that I sometimes still wouldn’t get anything.  Pathetic?  Probably.  Controllable?  Definitely not. 

But I also guess, in the mailman’s defense, I should say that the mailman has been the one responsible for making my day more than once too.  There’s been times where a letter was all I needed to turn my day around and I have no one but the mailman to thank for that.

So with all that being said, just a quick note to the mailman.  Please keep in mind how much you affect this little girl’s life.  Please be considerate of how it makes me feel when I get your mail after dark.   And ya know if you don’t see anything for me, you could always just write me a quick note to say hello.  But also thank you.  Thank you for all you do to deliver those wonderful surprises, because whether it’s a package with something new, a letter from my family saying that they miss me, or a letter from a close friend or a cousin on a mission letting me know they’re still okay, each one makes me strangely happy in a way that nothing else really can.