14 years ago - A defining moment

We all have defining moments in our life that we will never forget where we were or what we were doing when we heard the news.  One of mine was 14 years ago in the middle of the night the phone in my dorm room rang. The 2nd day of classes my sophomore year at University of WI-La Crosse had finished and my roommate and I had just gone to bed having talked about room "rules" earlier in the night.  One of them was no phone calls after 11pm unless it was an emergency. I answered the phone and it was my dad telling me that my grandpa had passed away.  My dad and brother drove up to La Crosse the next morning to bring me home.

To say I was devastated would be an understatement.  Grandpa and I were always very close. I was the oldest grandchild and my cousin Jenny and I always fought for his attention when we ever kids. We couldn't stand each other then! (Luckily we grew out of it and love each other now!)  Jenny stood by my side after she played the violin at Grandpa's funeral while I gave the eulogy and when I couldn't read my words from the tears in my eyes she read them to me.

I have so many memories of Grandpa (and Grandma too of course!)- picking out my bikes, trips to Ft Sheridan, a Lake Geneva cruise on the Lady of the Lake, helicopter rides, going to the Wild West Town, just spending a weekend at grandma and grandpa's, painting the laundry room of the house I grew up in (we painted our names on the wall first before we actually got to work!), interviewing Grandpa for a family history project and WWII project and having Grandpa come to my 5th grade class to talk about being a Geronimo 509er in WWII. That was when grandpa gave me a set of his paratrooper wings; one of my most cherished possessions.

Since Grandpa's death happened so early in the semester, I quickly fell behind in my classes.  When I got back to school after a few days from the wake and funeral I had a tough time adjusting back into things. My friends were so supportive and helped me through it though

A big project!

I've been in the middle of a big project the past month or so and I'm finally almost done! Here are a few sneak peeks of the project! Once it's completed I will share more details of it! I will say it's been a challenge but a lot of fun to work on.