soggybtmboys
11-01-2007, 08:41 PM
I had posted this in another thread and a comment from NEMichsportsman got me to thinking, and I ran across this new forum.
This is a telling of my Grandfather's passing a few years ago. He was a good man, loved the outdoors and his family. He was my hero and there is not a single day since his passing I do not miss him or think about him........especially this time of year. He was my hero.
Feel free to add personal stories of lost heroes and loved ones to this thread.
Sigh.........
I grew up close with my grandfather, very close. He spent an enormous amount of time with me when I was a kid. He taught me to fish and got me started hunting. He made me a slingshot when I was about 7 to pick off the birds in his garden that would eat his fruits and vegetables. Dad finished my hunting education.
Well as time passes, father time catches us all. He was a big hearted fiesty and sometimes grouchy man, but never with us boys...especially me. As Pa aged he mellowed and just turned into a sweet old man, the kind of man that you see Halmark commercials about. He was 89 yrs old when he passed and his passing did not fit him. He went to sit down in his favorite rocking chair and he sat down on the arm of it. He flipped out of his chair and smacked his head on the corner of the bottom of his Grandfather Clock's molding. He was in trouble, he went unconscious. We got him to U of M AnnArbor and we had to make a decision. His head was bleeding internally and putting pressure on his brain, however since his advanced age his braing had shrunk a little and a little room for the bleeding before it went critical. So a decision was made to go ahead and give him a chance. They went ahead and did a surgery on his head to allow the blood to drain out and see if it would give him a fighting chance.
He came thru the surgery and was in a recovery room in the ICU. I had two weeks of vacation and was not about to leave with Pa in the hospital, was gonna eat the vacation. Everyone was telling my brother and I to go ahead and take off nothing we could do and would get a call if we needed to get back. I did not like it and talked to the doctor, they said it was up to Pa if he was gonna make it or not. I went in to see him in his room. Grandma said he was unconscious, so did Mom. They left the room to leave me alone with Pa and go get something to drink. Soon as they left the room I started to talk to him while I was holding his hand. Little stinker was playing possum, he was not unconscious........he was waiting to talk to me and only me. He knew I was supposed to go hunting with my brother at the lake, his favorite place to be. He looked around the room and said to me, to sneak him out of the hospital and take him with me and my brother to the lake to sit in the woods.......he did not want to die in the hospital, he wanted to die in the woods. Man, I lost it right then and there.....told him I couldn't sneak him out....his head had been cut open and there would be no way he would survive the four hour trip even if my brother and I could have schemed to get him out of the hospital unnoticed. He cried and said this sucks..........don't want to die like this...take me home.....take me to the woods.......sit with my favorite grandson(me) one more time just like when I was little and go to sleep forever with me sitting next to him under his squirrel tree.
Man, it was hard on me to hear that come from a man who I looked at as a giant growing up. Well, finally he understood we could not sneak him out of the hospital and told us to go......don't sit here waiting on me to die.....go to the woods......nothing you can do.....I want you to go and will be mad if you don't I know how hard it is for you and your brother to get time off together. Well Mom and grandma walked back in the room with the doctor, they were shocked to see him awake and talking....and when they came back in he gave my hand a squeeze and said go. I said ok, if that is what you really want us to do and he nodded yes. He looked at my Mother and Grandmother and closed his eyes again. I told them what he wanted and what he had said, they were pretty upset that he did not talk to them....and I can understand that........all i could say was you know how close Pa and I are....they nodded and said better get going or he will get upset and that could kill him in his condition.
So my brother and I left for up north, we decided to only go for a few days and come home. No luck no deer or any game, the woods were eerily quiet those few days. We had come home and Pa had been moved to an intensive care nursing home near the family. We immediately went to see him and his condition had worsened, when he was awake he was incoherent and scared. This went on like this for a few weeks.
The last time I saw him alive was the morning my brother and I were heading out to go rabbit hunting at Mouille. We stopped in like we did on the weekends in the mornings have a coffee and read Pa the morning paper....even if he could not hear us or acknowledge if he could. That morning in particular sticks in my mind, I was leaving and he squeezed my hand as I was getting up, and as I looked at him......I could see a tear run out of the corner of his closed eye. My brother and I both lost it........we knew it was close and that was probably all he could say to us to say goodbye.
We walked out sobbing and got it together and went to the marsh to look for rabbits. We had gotten two rabbits that morning and figured we had enough....didn't feel like hunting anymore. We sat down on a snow bank and shared a small thermos of coffee and just took it all in.
We sat there for about a good half hour. My brother and I were talking about the past, growing up and how much of an good impact Pa had on us and how lucky we were to have had him so long as we had....he was turning 90 soon. As suddenly as we had decided to sit we heard this screach......it was a big red tailed hawk soaring over head.....and we looked up at it. It was just circling over head looking down at us, we both were like look at that. The hawk made one more circle and dropped in on us, it landed 15 ft away in the snow and just stood there.....looking at us one at a time....took 4 steps towards us and made that raptor chirp....spread his wings and took to the air, circled two more times and left our site. We thought WOW you don't see that everyday!
We talked about that hawk the whole way home, as we pulled up we saw my cousins car, my then wife's car, my sister in laws car and my parents care. We thought what now. We walked in and everyone was sitting in the front room of my house and everyone was silent. We looked at everyone one and I spoke up and said.......Pa died....didn't he? My mom started crying.
My brother and I quietly walked into my kitchen and got three glasses of my grandfather's homemade brandy and poured three shots. One for my brother, one for me.....and one for Pa. We sat there and had the shot, and at the same time....my brother and I looked up from our tears and glasses and looked right at each other and said..............The HAWK.
Rest in Peace Pa......we miss you.
First time I have told anyone this outside my family, you guys are family too now.
Best regards and shoot straight this year.
Dean
This is a telling of my Grandfather's passing a few years ago. He was a good man, loved the outdoors and his family. He was my hero and there is not a single day since his passing I do not miss him or think about him........especially this time of year. He was my hero.
Feel free to add personal stories of lost heroes and loved ones to this thread.
Sigh.........
I grew up close with my grandfather, very close. He spent an enormous amount of time with me when I was a kid. He taught me to fish and got me started hunting. He made me a slingshot when I was about 7 to pick off the birds in his garden that would eat his fruits and vegetables. Dad finished my hunting education.
Well as time passes, father time catches us all. He was a big hearted fiesty and sometimes grouchy man, but never with us boys...especially me. As Pa aged he mellowed and just turned into a sweet old man, the kind of man that you see Halmark commercials about. He was 89 yrs old when he passed and his passing did not fit him. He went to sit down in his favorite rocking chair and he sat down on the arm of it. He flipped out of his chair and smacked his head on the corner of the bottom of his Grandfather Clock's molding. He was in trouble, he went unconscious. We got him to U of M AnnArbor and we had to make a decision. His head was bleeding internally and putting pressure on his brain, however since his advanced age his braing had shrunk a little and a little room for the bleeding before it went critical. So a decision was made to go ahead and give him a chance. They went ahead and did a surgery on his head to allow the blood to drain out and see if it would give him a fighting chance.
He came thru the surgery and was in a recovery room in the ICU. I had two weeks of vacation and was not about to leave with Pa in the hospital, was gonna eat the vacation. Everyone was telling my brother and I to go ahead and take off nothing we could do and would get a call if we needed to get back. I did not like it and talked to the doctor, they said it was up to Pa if he was gonna make it or not. I went in to see him in his room. Grandma said he was unconscious, so did Mom. They left the room to leave me alone with Pa and go get something to drink. Soon as they left the room I started to talk to him while I was holding his hand. Little stinker was playing possum, he was not unconscious........he was waiting to talk to me and only me. He knew I was supposed to go hunting with my brother at the lake, his favorite place to be. He looked around the room and said to me, to sneak him out of the hospital and take him with me and my brother to the lake to sit in the woods.......he did not want to die in the hospital, he wanted to die in the woods. Man, I lost it right then and there.....told him I couldn't sneak him out....his head had been cut open and there would be no way he would survive the four hour trip even if my brother and I could have schemed to get him out of the hospital unnoticed. He cried and said this sucks..........don't want to die like this...take me home.....take me to the woods.......sit with my favorite grandson(me) one more time just like when I was little and go to sleep forever with me sitting next to him under his squirrel tree.
Man, it was hard on me to hear that come from a man who I looked at as a giant growing up. Well, finally he understood we could not sneak him out of the hospital and told us to go......don't sit here waiting on me to die.....go to the woods......nothing you can do.....I want you to go and will be mad if you don't I know how hard it is for you and your brother to get time off together. Well Mom and grandma walked back in the room with the doctor, they were shocked to see him awake and talking....and when they came back in he gave my hand a squeeze and said go. I said ok, if that is what you really want us to do and he nodded yes. He looked at my Mother and Grandmother and closed his eyes again. I told them what he wanted and what he had said, they were pretty upset that he did not talk to them....and I can understand that........all i could say was you know how close Pa and I are....they nodded and said better get going or he will get upset and that could kill him in his condition.
So my brother and I left for up north, we decided to only go for a few days and come home. No luck no deer or any game, the woods were eerily quiet those few days. We had come home and Pa had been moved to an intensive care nursing home near the family. We immediately went to see him and his condition had worsened, when he was awake he was incoherent and scared. This went on like this for a few weeks.
The last time I saw him alive was the morning my brother and I were heading out to go rabbit hunting at Mouille. We stopped in like we did on the weekends in the mornings have a coffee and read Pa the morning paper....even if he could not hear us or acknowledge if he could. That morning in particular sticks in my mind, I was leaving and he squeezed my hand as I was getting up, and as I looked at him......I could see a tear run out of the corner of his closed eye. My brother and I both lost it........we knew it was close and that was probably all he could say to us to say goodbye.
We walked out sobbing and got it together and went to the marsh to look for rabbits. We had gotten two rabbits that morning and figured we had enough....didn't feel like hunting anymore. We sat down on a snow bank and shared a small thermos of coffee and just took it all in.
We sat there for about a good half hour. My brother and I were talking about the past, growing up and how much of an good impact Pa had on us and how lucky we were to have had him so long as we had....he was turning 90 soon. As suddenly as we had decided to sit we heard this screach......it was a big red tailed hawk soaring over head.....and we looked up at it. It was just circling over head looking down at us, we both were like look at that. The hawk made one more circle and dropped in on us, it landed 15 ft away in the snow and just stood there.....looking at us one at a time....took 4 steps towards us and made that raptor chirp....spread his wings and took to the air, circled two more times and left our site. We thought WOW you don't see that everyday!
We talked about that hawk the whole way home, as we pulled up we saw my cousins car, my then wife's car, my sister in laws car and my parents care. We thought what now. We walked in and everyone was sitting in the front room of my house and everyone was silent. We looked at everyone one and I spoke up and said.......Pa died....didn't he? My mom started crying.
My brother and I quietly walked into my kitchen and got three glasses of my grandfather's homemade brandy and poured three shots. One for my brother, one for me.....and one for Pa. We sat there and had the shot, and at the same time....my brother and I looked up from our tears and glasses and looked right at each other and said..............The HAWK.
Rest in Peace Pa......we miss you.
First time I have told anyone this outside my family, you guys are family too now.
Best regards and shoot straight this year.
Dean