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Showing posts from April, 2013

The Last Thing I Said to My Grandfather

As some of you know, my grandfather, Irvin Ladage, died this past January.  At 30 years old I have been incredibly blessed to have lived this long in close relationships with all four of my grandparents as well as two "adopted" grandparents.  I always wanted to write something about the days leading up to his death, but it was just too fresh of a wound until now.  So here goes. My mother's side of the family has always been very close.  Growing up we gathered every Sunday evening at Grandpa and Grandma's house on the farm in rural Sangamon County.  Sitting around the table we had Democrats and Republicans, farmers and city folk, public school kids and parochial school kids.  But Sunday nights tended to put those things aside and we were simply family.   Even though our family has grown and changed over the years, and several of us have moved away from Sangamon County, these Sunday night meals kept on going in one form or another.  We stayed family, and we stayed c