Friday, September 6, 2013

Weekend trip

Last weekend we did a whole lot of driving and spent some time in Wisconsin visiting Joe's Grampa, who is 97 years old. You guys. That is a lot. Grampa was married 50 years to Joe's Gramma before she died, and now he's been married more than 20 years to his second wife. That kind of life experience just kind of blows my mind.

Joe's Grampa is a pretty amazing guy. He's an old farmer and can carry on a conversation about just about anything. His health has been declining a little more steadily in the past year or so, but he maintains his sense of humor and is just fun to talk to.

This was Martin's first trip to see Great Grampa, for whom he was named (Grampa's first name is Martin's middle name). They were fast friends.
Fist bump with Great-Grampa
We visit about once a year, and every trip is special because we don't know which trip will be the last one. Each time we are there, we have places we visit, including the cemetery where Joe's maternal grandparents and paternal grandmother are buried. When Joe's Grampa is gone, these trips will cease, and that will be sad because it's become something of a tradition with us. These are Joe's roots even though he didn't grow up in Wisconsin.

I hope we will have a reason to visit Wisconsin a few more times because we would miss that tradition. But most of all, we would miss visiting with this pretty incredible guy.