And the platitudes do actually help a bit

I spoke with my MIL this evening and was able to ask a bit more about Reva's death and how Owen was doing. Grandmother actually died yesterday morning not Wednesday evening as we were originally told. Owen went down to visit with her for a bit before breakfast and ask how she was. They spoke for a while before Owen went to eat. When he got back a half-hour later or so, she had passed away. Her heart just stopped working. So she did go peacefully, which is all anyone can ask. Owen is the one who realized it and alerted the nurse. A couple of nurses, the nursing home director, and a few others came down to be with Granddad at that time and they said a prayer and a few words. Yesterday was understandably very hard for him but my MIL said he seemed to be doing better today. All the children are there and have started helping with the arrangements and I'd think having his children around would be as much of a comfort as anything.

Paul and I have decided to go to the funeral in Kansas. We're flying to KS on Sunday and back home on Monday--a very quick trip but a trip we're glad we'll be able to take especially since all of the cousins are going to be there as is Paul's brother with Matthew. I don't understand why Alan is bringin the just-turned-five year old for the funeral but I'm sure they have a reason. And I promise that I will not, for the next three days, lament the fact that it freaking cold in Kansas. As I write this, it is currently 10 degrees in Wamego. One-zero degrees. And Monday is supposed to have a high temperature of a whopping three-zero degrees. It is unfortunate that I don't have a more subdued, dressier down coat than my puffy aqua/lime parka.

And perhaps this picture is a bit irreverent to include on a post about Paul's grandmother's death but I think that his irreverence was one of the things Reva always appreciated about Paul. And not that one has favorites but it did seem that Paul might have been a notch or two higher than a few of the others for Reva. There were always lemon drops for Paul and his cousin Kim when they'd visit as children. And during all the time we've been married, when we'd visit Kansas in the summers, Grandmother wouldn't let anyone else have the snickerdoodle cookies until Paul got to the house. When we visited in December, my MIL commented that she couldn't get Grandmother to smile but as soon as Paul walked into the room, Reva started grinning.On our way back to Kansas City during our December visit, we had time to waste so we stopped in the little town of Paxico, Kansas, which touts its antique stores along I-70 (which, west of Topeka, touts being the first completed portion of the Eisenhower Interstate System). This was taken in one of the antique stores (it was the original bank building and that's the actual bank vault). Again, an example of a classic photograph of Paul with the silly posing and the goofy facial expressions.

This is an example of the pictures he takes of me:
Um, yeah. He did apologize but do you notice he didn't delete it? I noticed.