Your Grandpa

Hi Nora,

As I write this tonight, your daddy and I have tucked you into bed and I'm sitting here exhausted after an emotional couple of weeks. Last week, on Feb. 24, your Grandpa Thomas passed away. His name was Harry. And I wanted to be sure I wrote you a letter now to tell you about him. And hopefully, 10 years from now this blog will still be online and we will be able to go back and read this together.

You only met Grandpa Harry once, in 2008 at Christmastime. You were 4 months old. We visited him in a alcohol rehab center in Iowa City and unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any pictures. Your grandfather faced a nearly lifelong battle with alcoholism. A battle that he lost last week. And though we had our battles ourselves -- I want you to know what I admired most about him.

Your grandpa was the most intelligent man I've ever known. He was incredibly gifted, witty and charming. He could always make me smile even when I didn't want him to. In the last year, every time we talked the conversation led to you. And he always giggled when I told him about your ornery habits, as if to say "what goes around comes around." He had some classic phrases that you already know at 18 mos. old, such as "you better tuck in that lip before a bird comes to poop on it". He's also the originator of the "ride a horsey" game that you love so much.

Your grandpa idolized John Lennon and the Beatles. He also loved The Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia. He loved rock and roll music, but he also worshipped the words of these bands and the messages they portrayed. At Daddy and I's wedding he quoted the words of a John Lennon song as he gave his speech "There's nothing you can do that can't be done. Nothing you can sing that can't be sung. There's nothing you can say, but you can learn to play the game -- it's easy. All you need is love."

Your grandpa believed in a few core principles in life and he always stayed true to them. He first and foremost believed in peace and could often be seen flashing his peace sign. He believed in taking care of the earth and giving back to it. He could grow beautiful roses and loved to take care of orchids. He believed in equal rights and he was very sensitive to the struggles of other people, particularly the poor and the homeless. I remember walking through New York City with him as a little girl and him stopping to offer some change to several people on the streets. He ultimately believed that love could conquer all.

As your Uncle Rudy stated at his memorial service, he was a complex man. A man who often was sensitive to the needs of others, but at times ignored his own. We know now that grandpa will finally get to be in the world he so desperately hoped this world would be. A world full of peace, love and rock 'n' roll. A world where even those who struggled to make it in this world get to stand on their own cloud and live like they always wished they could.

Love you!!

Mama