Opa

I have been putting this off for a week now and now I finally feel like I can do this. My Opa was born in the town of Meppel in Holland on February 2nd 1919, and passes away on February 20th 2009 at a wonderful age of Ninety. I didn't get to see him or my Oma often as they lived in Abbotsford B.C. He was a man of few words. He was the type of person that you could sit with all day and not speak to but feel as if you had chatted with him all day. I remember going for walks with him. Whenever we would go and visit he would take me for a walk. He would walk with his hands in his pockets looking up at the sky. I didn't know alot about him, I did like all the family know that he LOVED Sugar and Salt, he would out 4 teaspoons of sugar in his coffee and doused all his food with salt, I remember on a few occasions some of the family asking if he wanted coffee with his sugar or food with his salt, but he never retorted with anything he just said hmm and went back to drinking or his food. I remember the story of him bringing two pigs home and training them to pull a cart, he made them special harnesses and took them to fairs all over Western Canada showing off their skills, that is till a nasty neighbour reported him to the city and he had to keep the pigs else where. I also remember whenever we would go visit or they would come and see us he would sneak away and have a cigarette and we would bug him, Òpa when did you start smoking, and he would answer I don't smoke, we would laugh and shrug it off. I do wish I had got to spend more time with him and learned more about him but I am so glad he had a long and Happy life. I learned at the funeral that my Opa was a christian and he was saved even before they had moved from Holland, I don't yet know what this means to me yet, all I know was when I found that out I was happy, I was no longer sad about his death but happy for the life he lived. While we were in BC I saw my papa (Opas oldest son) shed tears for the first time. This hurt me almost more than Opa passing. I have a special relationship with my papa and to see him cry was unbearable. We talked about it after the funeral (as my younger cousins and little brother asked him why) He reassured us they were happy tears, happy that Opa was in heaven, Happy that he was no longer in pain and Happy that we were all there with him while he was able to say good bye to his father. I am Grateful that I had an Opa (my great grandfather), I am grateful that I had somewhat of a relationship with him and I am also grateful that I got to go to his funeral and say goodbye.