Day 86- Explanation and Safe Travels

Blogger has a handy dandy feature that will allow me to "post" while I'm gone on vacation.  I'm hoping that this works out!  If it does, there should still be something posted every day until we get back.

I'm going to be donating to one charity this week instead of one per day, but this is something I had planned on doing anyway.  Wednesday marks the one year anniversary of the day my grandpa got to meet God face to face.  I can't believe it's only been a year, and I can't believe it's already been a year all at the same time.  I still miss him and think about him all the time, and my heart still aches for my grandma and the rest of my family as they try to heal.  We all have necklaces made from his fingerprints, and I know that this is just one of many ways that we all continue to keep him close to our hearts.

Because of this and because of the fact that most of my posts last year around this time had to do with this, I will be making this week's worth of donations in honor of Grandpa Gene.

http://www.arthritis.org/chapters/michigan/

Grandpa lived courageously with arthritis for decades.  There were many days when his hands and feet and all kinds of other things just didn't serve him the way they were supposed to.  Grandma Katie, his constant nurse and angel, was always by his side to give him his medicine or to help him with his shoes or to massage the cramps out of his legs/feet/whatever else was bothering him.  While this debilitating disease took over his body, he did not allow it to take over his spirit.  He lived with the sassiness and spunkiness that we all loved so much that it still makes us laugh and hurt at the same time... and sometimes we laugh until it hurts too.

This week's donations have been made to the Michigan chapter of The Arthritis Foundation in his honor.  This was started at the University of Michigan, a fact that makes the whole thing even more fitting.  The foundation is all about helping people to cope in a number of different ways, advocating for those living with the disease (or those living with the one living with the disease), and researching for a cure.  Their website is a real wealth of information, from daily living tips to letters people can send to members of our government.

I love you, Grandpa. 

******
By the time this is posted, we should be safely to our Mexican paradise.  It will be hard to pick just one thing from all of the things I have to be grateful for, but I'll simply say that we are thankful to have arrived safe and sound.

Thank you, safe travels, you made my day.

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