Reading for my Grandfather's Funeral
Below is a copy of the message I delivered at my Grandfather’s Funeral this afternoon. My hope is that it will be taken to heart and that the message will live on in the hearts of my family and in all of those that read it.
While visiting with my grandfather I felt a message pressing on my heart. Late one night, unable to sleep, I began thinking about our family and how exceptional it is. This may sound like bragging but I know I speak for each member of my family when I say we’ve been told countless times, by countless numbers of people that our family is unlike any they’ve ever known. We’re tight, unusually (and sometimes uncomfortably) so. Each of us has been asked what the secret is, what was instilled in us that made family the most important thing, kept us close- kept us from drifting apart- or killing each other. With so many personalities (some pretty big) and temperaments (and some pretty big tempers) it’s a natural question. Usually we each have a generic answer. We had family dinners, or we were forced to spend time together, or,as it was in my case, forced to hold hands when we weren’t getting along.
But the real reason is more simple and has nothing to do with our actions and everything to do with why we’re here today.
My grandfather was born to a German American Family in Baltimore Maryland. He, like so many of his genration, was raised by a father that worked long hours and a mother that kept house. He was one of four, and the eldest son, but his home was also the home to others in need of a family. When asked about these occasional additions to an already full home, he didn’t recall there ever being much fuss about it they were simply extended family.
Most of us know the story of my grandfather praying to meet a traditional woman that he could marry. He believed he found her in my grandmother. And god help him, she may have wanted to keep house but she was also determined to run it. While they had four children of their own, their house too carried the tradition of opening their home to others as they did with my grandmother’s sublings. And again, this was just done without much discussion. An assumed change that everyone just rolled with.
Soon my own father and his siblings married and started their own families. And Each of them have carried on the tradition of opening their home up or even creating a home in their hearts for other along the way. Man6 of these people were even introduced into our family gatherings and now they have become a part of our larger family too.
And now, as my grandfathers granddaughter, I have kept his example within my own famiky. My husband and i have helped grow our sprawling family by introducing my sister and my husband’s brother and now they’ll marry in a few short weeks. We’ve gone international! And now we’ll add a few more nieces and nephews into this sprawling mix just as my siblibgs and cousins will do with this next generation.
And so this family, comprised of blood and heart bonds, is now a sprawling group of people from all walks of life. Some have come and gone, some have stayed. All know they can call any of us and we’ll be there within a moments notice no matter how much time has passed.
And this is my grandfather’s legacy. This sprawling disparate crazy bunch of people with so much love. These people who keep opening their hearts and homes to others. And each time one of us does this we honor his life and pass on what he valued most, his love of family. We make him proud and in our actions he lives on eternally.
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