new perspective

so i had an interesting experience today. i got home from ward volleyball practice and the only people that were home were my parents. that never happens! i am always the one that is gone. i got to sit down and eat fancy chili dogs with my parents for dinner, and have a nice little talk with them. in medical anatomy i have to do a report on a type of cancer.  my teacher said that it would be beneficial if we did our report on a cancer that effected someone we know, so its more interesting. i have several close relatives on both sides of my family that have been affected by cancer, and some have died from it.  i asked my parents what my grandpa calder died from, who died when i was 8 i think.  i thought he had died from some bone cancer, come to find out it was prostate cancer, that later spread to his hip mostly.  i got to hear the whole story for the first time tonight. as an 8 year old, i didnt really understand what was going on.  i knew my grandpa pretty well, but it didnt really affect me too much at that age. it was really interesting to hear my dads feelings about it, and some of the really cool things that happened those ten years. he was first diagnosed when i was 2 i think, and they were able to catch it , and have the opperation to get ride of the cancer. they didnt do radiation because they didnt think he needed it.  he went ten years without anything bothering him. he had always been very active, and the first time my dad really realized that the cancer was back, was when all the guys went golfing and his hip really started to hurt him. it ended up coming back, and rapidly growing in his bones that it quickly weakened him.  one of the cool things was when he was really bad, he got to come see our finished basement that my dad had done. a few years before that my grandpa and my dad worked on the plumbing and electrical together, and then he got to see my dads hard work that he had done, and see the beautifully finished basement.  that was something i had never heard before.  there are only a few distinct things i do remember about this time.  i remember hearing the news that my grandpa had passed away, and just going in the bathroom to cry.  i was only 8, but i understood enough to know the things that were going on. then seeing my dad sad just made it all worse. sometimes i think what it would be like to have him around still.  he never even got to meet levi, and nate was only 2 when he died.  he would have been able to go to my basketball games with my grandma, i could have more of his warm hugs on holidays, he could still be coming to flaming gorge with us and spending time together playing cards, going to the byu football games with the rest of the family in the seats that we have had for like 25 years, and he could have seen me grow up keep telling me how tall i am getting. though  i  know that he is probably so happy right now with his youngest son duane up there, just serving away.  tonight talking to my parents, and especially my dad, was just something i think i needed to hear right now, to get a new perspective on life.

here are a few pictures i found of my grandpa. i tried to find some silly ones from flaming gorge, but i unfortunatly dont think i have a copy of those

here is a picture of my dad and my grandpa right before he died

 here is a picture my grandma found about a year ago, while digging in some old family albums. this was me at age 3 on mothers day. 

 this is grandpa calder with new born nate

this picture was taken at my cousin dustins wedding, probably just a year or so before he died

I LOVE YOU GRANDPA!