Today We Celebrated My Grandad

We buried my Grandad today. He would have been 90 years old in July and he lived a long, beautiful life. My photo for today is the flower arrangement on his casket, but I'm also including a few photos Sid and I took last summer on a trip to Bandera, where we had a family cabin. Grandad wanted his grandchildren to have a special place away from the city where we could get mud on our clothes, dirt under our nails, and learn a true love of nature and God's critters. I believe it was his greatest accomplishment, especially since all four grandkids were baptized (most of us by him) in the Medina River. My most cherished memories are of the long summer days spent playing in the trees, catching lighting bugs, swimming in the Medina River, or sitting on the back porch watching for critters. I know I will always rememebr him in that sacred place, sitting in a chair on the front porch of the cabin, telling stories, waving to people as they pass, with a huge smile on his face.

This is the back entrance to the cabin where we would make Mom stop the car, and Randy and I would race up the hill and sneak in the back to surprise Granny and Grandad. Of course, they could hear us giggling and breaking branches all the way up the hill, but they always pretended to be surprised.

If there is a prettier river than the Medina in Texas, I've never seen it. We would jump from the rope swing, swim and tube for hours, but we always had to wait an excruciating hour after a meal for our food to settle.
I loved (and still do) this bridge, because it meant we were minutes away from the cabin and I loved seeing how high the river was. Many times, I saw the water over the bridge after a storm. One time in particular, it was so high that Grandad had to evacuate us the back way. With me on his shoulders, he walked through muddy water hip deep. I remember that I wasn't scared, but sad that it was time to go home. We also loved swimming backwards against the current, trying to make it back on the slippery concrete.

I'm sure I'll be posting many more photos this summer.