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
.  But as I mentioned it was a defining moment for me.  I realized when I got back I didn't want to be a Biology major anymore.  I hated my classes and knew I didn't want to spend my life in a lab doing research like I thought I did.  So I changed my major to Communications and Political Science and 2nd semester my sophomore year I began to thrive in my classes. I took a ton of Political Science classes over the next couple years including 5 Constitutional Law courses.  My grandpa and my professor Dr. Bigel would have gotten along so well!

On 9/11/01 I woke up knowing it would be a tough day because it was 1 year since we had buried my grandpa, but early on that day drastically changed as I was sitting in my Organizational Communications class when the head of our department came in and told us we were under attack.  As my classmates and I gathered around the TVs in our building watching the World Trade Center tumble, all I could think was how glad I was that Grandpa didn't have to witness that.  As a proud American Veteran I know he would have been devastated.

Throughout the past couple years I have scrapbooked many pages of Grandpa to document my memories of him. I'd like to share a few of those pages with you to celebrate his life on thr Anniversary of his death.

(Supplies from Scraptastic May 2014 Daylight Kit)

(Supplies from American Crafts Dear Lizzy Daydreamer (heart wood veneer) and Lucky Charm (patterned paper, die cuts) glitter paper and thickers (American Crafts) enamel dots (unknown) )

(Supplies from Scraptastic October 2013 Never Tear Us Apart kit)

(Supplies from: Teresa Collins Stationary Noted collection (paper), American Crafts (thickers), Glitz (tile letters) enamel dots, brads, flair, washi tape unknown)

(Supplies from: Patterned paper, blue tile letters, stickers (Pebbles Family Ties) buttons (My Minds Eye), wood veneer (Studio Calico), Thickers (American Crafts))

(Supplies: die cuts and title cut from Quickutz dies, others unknown)

(Supplies: patterned paper (American Crafts) Title font from Quickutz, others unknown)

(Supplies: patterned papers, blue tile letters (October Afternoon) wood veener (Studio Calico) thickers (American Crafts) enamel dots (Teresa Collins), journaling spot (Jenni Bowlin))