Our Sweet Papaw

This morning, our sweet Papaw passed away.  Papaw is my mom's dad, and he's definitely the patriarch of the big Johnston family.  Although he had just turned 82 in March, his death was an unexpected thing for our family.  In fact, he was just at our house a few days ago for Katie Anne's birthday party.  

 

He had a great time rocking on our deck, watching the kids play in the yard, and enjoying some of KA's delicious birthday cake.  In fact, he told Saunders all about a bluegrass concert that he'd attended the night before - Century Bank had sponsored the concert, and Papaw had really enjoyed it.  

So, when we heard that he'd had a massive heart attack earlier this morning, it was definitely a shock.  I'm very relieved that Papaw did not suffer, and I'm so thankful that Granny Nelle was with him when he died.  She said that he was standing at his kitchen sink one minute, washing his hands and telling her that he didn't feel well, and the next minute he'd slumped over a bit and she was laying him gently on their kitchen floor.  By the time she laid him down, he had already passed away.  I am very grateful that he didn't suffer, and we couldn't have asked for a better end to Papaw's kind, gentle life than that.  But, a quick and painless death doesn't make the fact that Papaw is gone any quicker to get over or less painful for those of us who will miss him very much.

With Papaw's passing, I have now lost both my grandfathers.  I am very lucky that I got to grow up close to both Pop and Papaw - I got to know them very well and spend lots of time with them as I grew up.  Pop died when I was 15, and I got to spend almost twice as many years with Papaw - he lived for almost the first 30 years of my life.  There's a lot of people who don't have that opportunity to spend time with their grandfathers.  I am also so glad that Papaw got to meet and spend time with both of my kids.  But, none of those facts will make me miss it any less when I don't get to hear him singing Happy Birthday in harmony with Granny Nelle to me this June, or serve him a slice of SJ's first birthday cake this August, or spend time with him during the holidays this year.  Luckily, there are lots of happy memories of Papaw for all of us to remember.  Here are just a few pictures of him that I've taken over the last few years...

Meeting teeny tiny SJ last August...

At Katie Anne's Tinkerbell birthday party...

Christmas this year...

 

 

 

At Katie Anne's second birthday party...

Katie Anne giving Papaw his Father's Day gift...

Papaw, you will be missed very much!