Hi.
It's been ridiculously hard for me to start this post. Screw that, it's been ridiculously hard to get out of BED since I got back to Michigan late last Thursday. Has it really been a week?
Logan has been amazing through all of this. He holds me through crying jags and takes care of all of the little details I'm suddenly unable to manage, all while working fourteen hours a day.
My grandparents on my father's side both died in the last month, within three weeks of each other. The decline in their health was fairly gradual over the last few years until it devolved precipitously; but that's not what I want to dwell on when I remember Granny and Papa. There are other memories of them I'd rather treasure; Granny sits at the piano in their apartment in Florida, teaching me Chopsticks when she could competently play Beethoven. Papa shows me at three that the best afternoon snack is Velveeta and apricot jam, and that while a pig says "oink," a flower goes "ah-choo."
I remember mini-golf with them after they retired to Florida in 1983, and an extremely loud trip on an airboat in the Everglades, and driving down Miami Beach (but only getting out of the car at Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House).
They appeared on the blog a couple of times and were always so supportive of our writing and picture-taking, even in the early days when the blog was frankly pretty awful. And when we were out of the country, every time we'd update, there would be an email from Granny about how much she loved "the latest Boots".
I'm sorry the blog has suffered over the last month. It's been hard for me to think of anything else, but I know (and I think Granny and Papa would tell me) that there's nothing good down that path.
By and by, we'll restore the blog to the way that they liked it - Rachel and Logan and a growing assortment of cameras getting out there and reporting back on what we find in a style that's often snottier than intended.
Here's a picture from just after they moved to Florida. This is the way I'll remember Dan and Bernice, both grinning, Papa looking like he's about to wink and lean in to tell a joke, Granny ready to envelop me in a hug.
We'll always have fun, but work hard, living up to their fantastic example of how to love each other and live happily. Thanks for everything, guys, and I love you.
