Cinco de Mayo

{Re-post from 5-5-2009 because Cinco de Mayo will always make me remember.}


Cinco de Mayo has  been my reminder to give DinDin (my paternal grandfather) his birthday phone call.   I ask how he is doing.  He chuckles and says something to the effect of, "I've never felt better...the good Lord (I guarantee you he'd also be pointing his index finger toward heaven) has blessed me."  

This is the first year I haven't been able to make that call, and I kept feeling like I was forgetting something all day.  DinDin would have been 86 years old today.  He died almost exactly 12 hours after Kaylee was born.  I didn't want that to happen.  I wanted his suffering to end.  I didn't want the entire family to be torn between his bedside and mine.  God had intended this emotional day for us, though.  DinDin was holding on, waiting for word that mom and baby were well.  The occurrence I had dreaded was, in a strange way, very special.  

We will get to share the whole story with Kaylee when she is older.  She will know how much DinDin loved her even before she was born.  She will know that though he could scarcely whisper, he was excited about her.  (Imagine then how our holy God loves us, and is excited for us!)

Toothless little Kaylee often reminds me of DinDin in his last days.  I get good laughs when she is eating, when she closes her mouth and pulls her little chin up..."You're making a DinDin face!"