When Talking about Adventuring is Hard

This past summer was filled with the highest of highs and sadly the lowest of lows. The highs consisted of our son’s, my cousin’s wedding, and time with a breadth of my family. Sadly, what brought my extended family together was the passing of my grandfather. My grandfather was, simply stated, the most amazing man I have ever meet. Together

my grandparents provided the world with 5 boys, 20 grandchildren, and countless great-grandchildren. They loved attending every possible special event of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and even the not so special events. Family brought them genuine joy. They taught me how to love unconditionally, what to look for in the perfect mate, to appreciate and enjoy live theater, and the value being committed to your community. I can only strive to be half as amazing as they were collectively. I am thankful I had 41 years with my grandmother and 47 with my grandfather. I am a better human because I knew them.
My grandfather affectionally referred to as the gentle giant, survived World War II, the Depression, drought after drought as a dairy farmer, and six years ago, the loss of his bride, my grandmother. I respected him as a husband, a grandfather, and a man, more than any other human being I know. He was smart, frank, graceful, loving, patient, kind, generous, and non-discriminatory.
When I knew his end was near this summer it was like I was frozen in fear of the inevitable. I didn’t want to go adventuring, I wasn’t in the mood to leave the RV, and all I wanted to do was go home to be with my grandfather. We finally made it to his side, his passing was slow, but fortunately, all of his family made it home to say our good-byes. The time with family was the greatest gift we could give him. It lifted all of our spirits and we could feel our grandmothers presence everywhere which was precisely what we all needed.
So comes the sudden stop of my newly developed appreciation of weekly blogging. My heart needed time to mend. My mind needed time to reconsider my goals. I wanted to blog, I tried to blog, I have 3 drafts waiting for me to finish, but my focus hasn’t been there. I come to you with a heart that is trying to mend and a new focus on greater goals to achieve undeniable happiness. I have had several conversations with my grandparents in my dreams. They were my greatest fans and thoroughly enjoyed listening to every single detail about any story I was willing to share with them. Therefore, I will write again. I will share our adventures with you. Maybe there is someone out there who needs to hear about them. Maybe somehow my grandparents are listening and smiling because all they wanted was for their family to live their best lives.
Brian and I have a lot to share with you. Next week I will pick up where we left off as we entered the UP of Michigan to finish our summer 2018 adventure. Then I will share with you what has been going on as we have begun to the plan our summer 2019 adventure which is going to be hiking the Camino Portuguese. My goal is to post an adventure blog every Wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m. EST. Brian will continue to post his “Recipe of the Week” every Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. EST. If you like what you are reading, please like, comment, share, and follow! We write our blogs for you. We write them to inspire an adventurous spirit in all of us. We write them to remember what it looks like for us to live our best life.
To everyone who helped me through the passing of my grandfather, thank you. To Brian who kept our posts coming while I mended a broken heart, thank you. I see my grandfathers spirit in Brian and that is the ultimate compliment. To anyone who still has either or both of their grandparents on this Earth, call them. Share everything that is is going on in your life with them. They are waiting to hear from you.