Poppy 1925-2010

At the very end of February, my wonderful Poppy passed away. It was a little bit of a shock to a lot of us. My parents and other family were just with him the week prior for a big family get-together. I was enjoying an amazing women's conference at our church building that Saturday morning when I checked my silenced phone and saw many texts and messages from my parents and John. Luckily, all the classes were over or I would have been a mess. That same day I had plans for a girls day out after for lunch and a movie and John had taken the kids up to his parents' house for some fun. I was lucky to have great friends to be around to enjoy Cafe Rio and see "Dear John" to ball my eyes out with the rest of the audience. It was much better then staying home alone.

My brother and I flew into the Oakland airport early Thursday morning, the day of the funeral, and met up Lindsey, Easton, and Mataya, who had just flown in. We got our rental van and drove up to Rio Vista to the cemetery. The service was wonderful and it was very nice to see everyone there. My dad led the service, Dennis and Jeff read some of the Life Story and the Lindsey, Jen, and I sobbingly read a poem. They also did very nice flag ceremony since he was a veteran. Everything was wonderful.

I miss my Poppy dearly. He was an amazing grandfather, father, brother, and friend. I was definitely reminded of that when attending the funeral. The things I remember most were how much he loved this country. He was very patriotic and served in the Army in WWII. He was the best at doing crossword puzzles. I can imagine him sitting in his recliner with one in his hand as we all were watching TV, talking, or doing whatever. I will remember him working so hard attending to his garden and fruit trees in Holland house and then the orange trees of his home now. I will cherish the wonderful things he built us growing up, like the doll house and toy box that we still have. I will especially miss our phone calls and hearing him laugh as I talk about the kids and the funny things they are doing. One memory I will remember most growing up was at Christmastime being able to pass out gifts with Poppy since I was the oldest grandchild. I don't know why I will always remember that, but I felt so special like it was something only I could do with him. I will miss him so much, but can't wait for the day when I can see him again with Granny. I love you Poppy!

Here is a wonderful picture of Brody and Poppy.

After the service, we all drove up to Napa for the luncheon and visit with the family. My uncle David did touching video remembering Poppy with the many family pictures over the years. It was wonderful to see everyone and meet new members joining our family too. Amongst all the busyness, I forgot to take out my camera until the end. It seemed everyone forgot, but we did manage to get a few family pictures by the end.

Here is my immediate family minus John and Brandon and some of the kids.

Here is most of Pitta clan.

It didn't seem we were able to visit long before we were back on the road racing to the airport again. Mataya flew back with us this time. It was a crazy drive - not at all like So. Cal. rush hour. Mostly because there really wasn't a freeway, just long stretches of roads with periodic lights that made the busy roads almost a parking lot. It was very frustrating, but once we made it onto a real freeway it was mostly smooth sailing. Surprisingly, we managed to make our flight and made it home pretty late. It was a very tiring day, but well worth it.