Okay thank you, thank you, thank you! We have loved reading the comments from everyone. It is amazing how our friends and family have gathered around us to help so much. I haven’t really had to deal with a very close death like this before, and I don’t know any one who has either, so I didn’t know what to do or what to expect. One thing I’ve learned is that it’s so important to ask for and accept help. On top of a death turning your lives inside out there are about a million little things to worry about. Right now Bj sits beside me on his computer trying to hack into his dad’s various accounts and figure out where to start. Plus all this sadness, the grief, it really makes it hard to function normally. So we wanted to thank all those who have helped us this last week.

Bj’s mom and step dad. They flew down to California with us and ended up staying the whole week with us. Jim drove a U-Haul back to Salem with all of grandpa’s things in it. Kathy’s family in the area, especially her sister Nelda who came and helped back up grandpa were awesome.

My dad and step mom. They let us stay in there place in the desert so we only had to spend one night at grandpa’s house. It was so great to be able to drive back and just crash in a nice air conditioned home (grandpa likes it hot!). Dad thanks so much also for unloading the U-Haul before we got back to Salem!

My mom and step dad. Bill was away on a hike most of last week, so my mom kicked it into super mode, handling Ribbon Jar orders, painting our basement floor (we were mid project when we got the news), and getting things ready for grandpa here is Salem. He loved that his favorite cereal was already in the cupboard when he got here!

Sciarrino. Oh man do we owe her big. Not only did she stay here and watch over the place, but she cleaned up and mowed the lawn as well. She was so sweet not letting us worry about everything, plus we came home to fresh baked zucchini bread and this:

A giant picture from our wedding day. When Bj and I walked in the house yesterday and saw it we just started crying all over again. It seems forever ago already. We love this reminder.

Brent. My brother flew down to the desert, got delayed, came in at one a.m. and got up the next day to pack up and load a U-Haul tailer.  He left early with Jim to drive one of Bj’s grandpa’s cars.

Plus everyone else, the commentors, the neighbors who looked out for me, bringing in all our packages, everyone I meant to get to last week who have been so patient, people who cooked or are cooking for us. Just everyone. Thank you!

And to make you smile, grandpa quote of the day.

Me. "Did you know the first, your grandpa?" (grandpa is the third, and Bj is the fifth namesake in the family)
Grandpa. "No, no he died before I was born."
Me. "What did he die of."
Grandpa. "What is it called when you shit yourself to death?"

LOL, turns out that is called dysentery. William Henry Garrison the first contracted it during the civil war and was sent back up to a Union hospice type place to die. I have 12 boxes of scrapbooks from grandpa to go through. I can’t wait!