Grandpa ...

Editor's Note: We would like to apologize for the absence of the newsletter over the past 7 weeks. As you read this week's stories, I am sure you will understand that we needed to take some time to be with our families. --ed.

Hello Everyone.

There are times when life's journey can take dramatic twists and turns yet somehow we manage to plod on trying to cope. We had just celebrated the beginning of a new life with the birth of our third child, a daughter who we named Willa Kathleen.

Especially poignant, is that when Willa met my father-in-law he was lying in a hospital bed, clinging to life. Just 12 days earlier, Granny and Grandpa had been sitting at their kitchen table, toasting the birth of their 28th grandchild. Now, only months after having been diagnosed, the rapidly growing brain cancer could no longer be controlled. And in another 12 days Willa would bear witness to an entire life.

She was there with her Grandpa as his life peacefully came to a end. She was there when we celebrated Grandpa's life. She was there when his body was laid to rest. She was there.

B.Edmund Nelligan 1923 - 2004

We will walk with you,
holding your hand,
as you near the threshold
where the living may not pass;
until you are ready
to reach for the hand of God.

Happy sweeping,

Bob Gunther
Webmaster, ContestHound.com