First, the best thing about Grandma was she knew every one of you. It's hard to describe, but simply I would tell her about one person and she would remember them forever. She always knew my elementary school buddies, even after many moved away. She knew my high school friends and volleyball teammates. She knew my college roommates, Allie & the Passey family, and on-and-on. She could recall each major, hometown, stories shared, and more for each person. This wasn't just for me, but for every one of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren - siblings, friends, missionaries that served in her ward and probably even more than I know. I loved hearing her stories or see her light up when any update was shared. It was the best!
Although she knew all the latest updates, she couldn't get enough about what was new in my life. She would always make me feel like the most important person she knew...which I found out at the funeral was a mutual feeling among all us grandkids!
Well, going back to May 28, which was Memorial day, I was in our extra bed room installing a new ceiling fan when I got the call. It is one of those calls we knew would be coming but I didn't want to hear. Grandma had been fighting this terrible disease for roughly 18 months and there were a number of good days and bad days.
We knew months before we needed to get our passports squared away (since mine had expired, Zachary and Jane didn't have them). We were able to get everyone except Jane a passport because her birth certificate hadn't arrived and that was the only document they would accept to issue her a passport. With the work on the new house and other adventures, we forgot to get Jane a passport. Once we heard the news, we had one of two options: 1. I go to Canada alone or 2. We scramble to get a passport issued within 24 hours and go to the funeral as a family.
In the end, option 2 was selected. We got our flights on the 29th and the 30th Allie, Jane & I drove into SF to go to the nearest passport office for a same day issuance of Jane's passport. It was crazy, but amazingly, it worked out with Allie returning to the passport office that afternoon to retrieve the passport. On the 31st we jumped on a plane with my mom and sisters. It was so nice to have them on the plane to help with the kids and getting around.
When we landed in Calgary, we ran to the hotel to unload and get a general update from my dad who had already been up there for a week or more. From the hotel, we ran down to my grandparents house to see my grandpa and other family members that had already arrived. It was a nice time to be together as family.
On Saturday we all met at Grandma & Grandpa's church building, for the funeral service. The chapel was packed and might have gone into the gym. All of the speakers (aunt and uncles) were awesome. They asked us grandkids (and spouses) to sing. That just isn't fair. The service ran a little long (just over 2 hours) but Zachary was in heaven in the nursery the whole time and was totally content...until it was time to go!
The funeral procession was absolutely amazing! After the casket was loaded, we boarded one of two buses to go to the grave site. I had noticed that there were police officers there and we had heard they were going to help escort us, but little did I know that it was a full-on presidential type escort! The police would stop all traffic, in all directions at every intersection between the church and the freeway. It was indescribable. As we got on the freeway (note the freeway is the main North/South route in and out of Calgary), the police had COMPLETELY shut down the freeway and stopped all traffic for us. This continued on for 30 MINUTES! Yes, every on and off ramp was stopped. Any vehicle that was on the road was pulled over with an officer requiring them to wait until we passed. We had the whole freeway to ourselves. Once we got off the freeway, the small town was also stopped for us (with a few people outside their vehicles with cameras rolling). The final and ultimate respect was a number of officers standing at full solute as Grandma was driven past them.
At the grave site it began to rain, but it was again a special time and so nice to be there and a part of the process. Their ward put together a wonderful lunch for everyone to come back and visit.
Most of the family took off early Sunday AM. We decided we wanted to stick around a few extra days. On Sunday we went to church with my grandpa and uncle, had lunch with them at the house, took a drive out to the new Calgary Temple construction site, and also took a look around the Olympic Park. It was a great day to explore a few parts of Calgary.
Monday we went to Heritage Park, which has little replica "villages" of the frontier eras to modern day. It was a huge success, as Zachary was loving everything! Naturally, the trains, cars and rides were the biggest hits! The little rides were probably his favorite part. He would run from ride to ride and just loved every minute. I couldn't handle anything beyond my 3rd trip on the Ferris Wheel, so we encouraged Zachary to jump on the "kids only" Ferris Wheel if he wanted to do it again. To our surprise, he was brave enough to do it by himself. He would smile ear-to-ear each time he rode it by himself. We had to sneak out early afternoon to get the kids some much needed naps. As Calgary was staying light until after 10 PM and sun was out before 6AM, the kids were really off schedule.
After the naps, we hit the hotel water slides a few more times. Zachary was so cute riding down the slides with me. His favorite was the slide with the stop light. Although we were probably the only folks that actually followed its timing and lines would form behind us, it was cute to have him watch it and want to go real fast when it turned green. From the pool we met up with my Grandpa, Aunt and cousin for some A&W Hamburgers. It was fun to visit a little longer and my Grandpa was super happy to get an A&W burger. He was really disappointed when I didn't order the "Uncle Burger" which apparently is a HUGE & LOADED burger. Probably better that I didn't eat it!
Tuesday we had a mid morning flight that worked out great. The rental return and check-in went smoothly. The line at Customs was insane. Unfortunately there is no "family" line for that. After about an hour, we made it through and got back to the gate. We were required to board first since we had children and we were required to hear the rules of flying with children once we boarded, which was slightly annoying but worked out (typically we try to be the last ones on so that we don't have to contain the kids longer than necessary).
All-in-all, I was really glad we made the trip out there as a family. It was nice to show Allie around Calgary for longer than a layover (which was her first visit when we were flying to Italy in '06). I was really sad Grandma never got to meet Janers, but I am sure there will be other opportunities once our journeys end. Until then, I will get to tell the kids stories about Grandma Tez that would water ski and drop one in the lake, or be the one brave enough to jump in the frigid water with us kids at Shushwap, or the haircuts she gave us, and much more. We love you Grandma.
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