Oh Grandpa

This last week was one of the most bittersweet of my life. I lost someone who meant a great deal to me.  He was much more than a grandpa, he was a superhero with a pure heart of gold. He made an ordinary moment, seem much more
extraordinary. 

He made simplicity a virtue in my life. If he wanted to spend all day in a recliner chair sipping on a coke to watch his birds, then he darn well did. If he wanted to feed us everything under the sun, we had no argument good enough to stop him from becoming busy in the kitchen. If he wanted to plan the worlds biggest Easter egg hunt, then he spent all night filling the eggs with money and chocolates. If he wanted a family reunion, he instantly became the life of the party and showed us what a 'good time' really meant. If he wanted to be a real life superhero, he would only step outside his front door. If he wanted us to be a close, loving family, then he made it so.

As I heard the news of his passing, I spent most every second missing his sweet loving embrace, that only grandpas can give. He watched me grow up, as I did him. More than I even knew, I was extremely close to my grandpa. He got me through some challenging moments I was not yet prepared for in this life. He stepped in and scooped me up just as the Savior would have.. That's what grandpas are for and Grandpa Turner knew that handbook backwards and forwards.

My favorite memories of him were those silly moments when he would pull out one of his millions of hot casserole dishes from the oven with hot pads and scream 'Oo Oo Oo' and dance all the way to the dinner table where all us hungry grandkids watched and snickered. Grandma would roll her eyes and exclaim, "Oh Claude!" before whipping him with a dish towel. He loved to be playful, even with those shaky hands, we still would get mini heart attacks finding out if he was actually faking his hands being burnt clean off. Oh those hands. Those rough old hands that would slowly burn your arm as he would tickle the same spot for hours as you were cozied up in that recliner chair.. being too worried to move and lose your spot next to grandpa.. I learned to slowly rotate the sides of my arm so I wouldn't have an indian burn for the next week. You may say I am a well-seasoned rotisserie chicken.

And who remembers CATS? Oh my heavens! That ridiculous musical he has on VCR that we watched a hundred times before reenacting it on the basement hide-a-bed. We planned countless plays and performed them for the grown-ups. Those masterpieces took most of our nights, but grandpa was always overjoyed to see us appear upstairs for our performance.  He made sure to always have a front row seat and make our childish play seem like the most significant showcase.. Then seconds after the closing act, he made sure to beg us to sing a song. Bless his heart for keeping that movie that inspired most of us to be closet hairbrush performers and shower singers.

One thing you could always count on was that he always, always, always had candy. Typically the good ol' Hershey Kiss would do the trick. (He was just your average diabetic chocolate lover... okay kidding, he LIVED for chocolate.) He loved hershey kisses because he would put one in his mouth as he would fall asleep each night and let the chocolate slowly melt down his throat. If you don't like chocolate, just hearing grandpa talk about chocolate would make you absolutely crave a piece.. which he was always willing to share.

He would slip those little babies in my hands right before dinner and Grandma would again give her glorious and satisfying eye roll. He would wink at her and that secret love language is one I will master if my life depends on it. Those two were more in love that I ever knew. Looking back on those sweet embraces and moments between them, and being married myself, only shows me that they had the most incredible love story from start to.. well forever, because love never ends..  I'll always strive to have my marriage, home and relationships filled with love as theirs were. The Turner home never ever lacked, so shall the Cogburn home be.

If I weren't part of that wonderful thing we call "the Turner Family," I wouldn't be a strong, smart, independent and faithful woman. Without my sweet grandpa Claude, my life would never know the sweetness of not only chocolate, but a life full of happiness, love and living your dreams. He made sure we all knew that he loved us. Even if he said it a million times over again and we gave the 'eye roll' and exclaim "Oh Grandpa!"  If I learned anything from his beautiful life, it would be to tell my family "I love you" just a little more often.. may it always be a little less teary than his. 'Clauditis' is a term our family has become very accustomed to. "The act of crying tears of absolute happiness as loved ones are gathered near." So with that, I hope we can all suffer a few more 'Clauditis' moments in our lives as the Savior blesses us with a wonderful and growing family. I will miss you grandpa. You will always be my extraordinary hero.

Love you with all my heart, 

Your 'Clauditis' prone Granddaugher. xoxo