You will be missed Grandpa

My grandfather passed away yesterday (5/8/2012) and there's so much that I want to say. I could turn this blog post about him into a book but I honestly don't know where to begin or how to say it. His name was Osvaldo Flores and he was a good man, mostly. I was born on his 50th birthday so I always felt a special connection to him (and we never forgot each other's birthday). Some of my earliest memories are of him coming to the apartment we lived at when I was a little girl and bringing me gifts, such as some books about prayers (One that I think i might still have) and buying me my very first Cabbage Patch Doll (at the time, finding them was no easy feat). And we spent many a weekend riding around downtown Miami in the taxicab that he drove for a living. Those were fun times. It was very obvious that he loved us. He was there for all the special moments. He always gave me a Christmas card, no matter where I was and I still have many of them saved. One of the last photos I have of us together is at my wedding in 2000.

In recent years he had lived in several different nursing homes with my mother tending to him there  almost every day before or after work. She tried to be by his side as often as she could. When I would come down to visit South Florida, my mother would insist I come visit him at the nursing home. This was very difficult for me sometimes. Some visits he spoke, sometimes he didn't. They said he might have had Alzheimers. Did he remember me? Of course he has changed a lot since those cab-driving days. He was not the same man anymore. I can't put it in to words right now. Oh, that man was still there behind his eyes but unable to articulate his thoughts and feelings as well. Still when I did get to talk to him on the phone there was always an "I love you." And I hope he remembers how much we all loved him.
He has met my children and I hope I can figure out where I put the photos of him holding my sons. They won't remember their great-grandfather but I will be sure to share photos and memories with them. I hope he is pain free and up in heaven now, watching over us all.
 I don't know what else to say.