Till We Meet Again

I had been home for almost a week when we got the news that Grandpa Zsembery had died. He had had a massive heart attack. Aaron and I had just been down there for Easter and to tell him and grandma about their little great grandchild. They were so excited. It is their first great grandchild. One of the first things that grandpa said was “well Aaron, at least we know you are not shooting blanks.” It was so funny. That is how I will always remember grandpa.

We ended up driving Aaron’s parents 15 passenger van down with all the kids. We left at 5:30 in the morning so that we could get down there and be in time for the family viewing. The one good thing about this was that I finally got to meet the rest of Aaron’s cousins and his uncle from Virginia. Grandpa went so unexpectedly and fast that it is hard for everyone else but it is the best for him. He had just found out the he needed to go from his cane to a walker. He was not happy. But I could sense him at the viewing and he was happy to be free from his physical body which was holding him back.

Grandpa Zsembery was a Chief and Commissioner for the Holbrook Fire Department. They did a very nice ceremony for him at the evening viewing. The next day we went to the fire hall and the whole family was taking in the Chief vehicles’ and fire department bus to the viewing home and then onto the funeral. The funeral was at the Catholic church that grandpa attended. The strange thing was that I didn’t feel grandpa there as I had in the funeral home at his viewings. It was cold and sad. After the funeral we all loaded up in the fire department vehicles’ and headed to the cemetery. Since he was a veteran, we was buried at the veterans’ cemetery on the end of Long Island. As we drove there we went under American flags that were hung from two fire trucks on either side of the road. It was so cool and what an honor for grandpa.

Grandma was so proud of her future great grandchild. She told everyone there how excited grandpa was about being a great grandfather. Grandma would not let me do anything and she would always pat my belly and say to take care of her great grandchild. Aunt Maryanne and Aunt Marjorie want to know when the baby comes so that they can bring grandma up to see the baby. I told grandma that she can’t go anywhere so that she can be here for the baby. Grandpa will be there I’m sure of it.