Let's Build a Stairway to the Stars

I have spent three days traveling just about non-stop. I had to find people to help with my children, find rides at every turn and cancel commitments. It was worth the effort.



I was able to stand graveside as they lowered the body that does not resemble my grandfather anymore, but which once held his lively and vibrant spirit. My hair blew wildly and my skirt flew up over my head and the flowers escaped their holding place on his coffin in the wind/sand storm after the service had ended. We are sure he sent the wind. Most of the people had left before the sand had filled their eyes, noses and mouths, but I stood still in the world where nothing was still in the wind’s fury. I felt my grandpas’ exit in my personal stillness. I felt peace. Frozen in time. My sweet grandmamma watched from her safe car window as we put things back in their place with a combination of sandy smiles and tears.



He was a good man. Feisty and foresighted. A man of the world, he took care of others in his own way whether it was financially or with his sense of humor. He was an entrepreneur. A cowboy. A man’s man; a charmer. A saint and a sinner. A mayor. A lover of desserts and a hater of goodbyes. I wonder what he knows right now that he didn’t before. I bet it’s a comfort to no longer be within a body that held his memory captive. I hope he saw his genes passed down through the generations that celebrated his life. I saw resemblances everywhere I looked. Some were physical, some were soulful.