My granddad

So my grandpa died. I'd make a big deal about it, but honestly, he was ready to go. I know he was ready because he ordered his doctor to quit giving him his heart and lung medications. He was on pain pills and breathing treatments. I got to see him, hug him and tell him I loved him before he went. Not many people get that opportunity. He even told me some about his service in WWII. My grandpa was a really great guy and I only feel it right to write a little about "that old, sweet man" here.


John Mack McCullough (Jan 2, 1922-Jan 23,2008)
He was born to a poor farming family. They barely had enough to get by, but they were never hungry. His wife died about two years ago after a battle with Alzheimer's disease; that was his main reason for living. He worked in the A/C business and did lots of jobs for little or nothing. He was a sound investor and found himself financially blessed way beyond his means, so he gave sum after sum to church and to the children's home. There's a story about how the church building fund was having a rough couple of months and my grandpa went up and gave his entire building commitment at once to set an example to others. He was always a servant and many people honestly think he finally decided to get off his meds because he could not serve anymore. The world lost a great man, but Heaven's army is that much stronger now.

On a lighter note, he was a charmer and the ladies loved him up until he died. He used to always want to go to therapy to flirt with the physical therapists there.

Wonder what he's thinking...

I just got back from the hospital and seeing my grandpa. He's dying. He told the nurses to quit giving his medication; now he's only taking pain meds. My mom and aunt have been up there for a few days now and my mom's wearing down. My grandpa's just sleeping peacefully. I've never seen him with facial hair, but it's all gray and white and looks good on him. His hair's all messed up in a faux hawk and like I said, he looks peaceful. He's having trouble breathing, but they've been giving him oxygen treatments to help him. The hardest part if seeing my aunt and mom dealing with it. Mom's really emotional and she's really struggling. I suppose I'm really here more for her than for my grandpa.

Mom told me that they gave my grandpa some pain killers that caused him to flip out; she and my aunt spent all night holding him down. When it finally broke, he slept again. Mom said at about 4am or so, he sat up and starting reaching for their hands. They grabbed his hands and he said "Let's pray. Dear God, please forgive me for I am a sinful man." He then laid back down. Shortly after, he sat up again, eyes closed still, and said "and thank you Lord." How's that for a Godly man? He's already set amounts for all his kids and grandkids and the rest goes to the church. One of my fondest memories of him was taking all his massive orange juice jars, full of change, up to the church and leaving it there for the orphanage. He had a key and he'd let himself in when no one was there and just leave the change. It had to be over a thousand dollars each time.

It'll be sad to see him go, but I know he's ready to get back with his wife in the form we all loved and remembered. It really makes me appreciate what I have and how God can take over a person's life. He is my inspiration and my greatest role model in Christ. I don't know what tomorrow may bring, but I know that I was there and I told him I loved him and couldn't wait to join him fishing in heaven. He had his eyes closed, but he moved his fingers and turned a little and I'm sure he heard me.

School's rolling

So the last first week of classes at the U of A went well. I'm taking some fun classes and I really look forward to most of them. It's funny that one of my easiest classes last semester is my hardest this semester. My Russia history class is amazing. I don't like all the reading, but my professor rocks. She loves to talk about gore and suffering and all sorts of dark Russian things. It's neat too to realize that some of the places I went while in Russia were actually of historical influence. Anywho, my one ME class is okay. It's intro to flight and right now it's just very, very simple review. I have been dazing off in that one. German language and sociology are both pretty fun, but Sociology is definitely the class I look to the most. It's really packed in the Science engineering auditorium, but the teacher is AWESOME. She's a real blast to listen to.

The only thing I'm worried about is my honors research. I don't officially have a topic yet, but I have some good ideas. I'm thinking of joining forces with Joe, but I'd really like to do some car research. Speaking of cars, Robert is going to work an internship with Honda R&D this semester. How cool is that? I'd say it's pretty freaking sweet. I'm going to try to get up there and have a tour.

Spring break is coming up. I need to get reservations and plans and such. I'm thinking Puerto Rico, but I'm not sure. I'll have to discuss it with some people who will carry their weight on planning and such.

On a final note, my grandpa is really bad off. We went to see him in the hospital around Christmas, but he's really bad now. They're saying he might make it through the weekend. I'm not worried about him; I know he's got somewhere better to be. I am worried about mom's family fighting over stuff and especially about mom being able to deal with both her parents being dead. It'd be tough for me and I'm not even emotional. We'll see.

Snowboarding here I come

Man I am so pumped about hitting the slopes only 2.5 days from now. I'm not great, by all means, but I am improving in leaps and bounds. On the last day of last year, I was having some serious fun. Tomorrow morning it'll be Joe, Vanessa, Miranda and myself embarking on the greatest journey of our lives. It's going to be kickin'. It won't be as awesome as last year, but it's not every year you hit a snowstorm in new year's eve.
Speaking of New Year's eve, this one was great. we went to church and had a party in the new multipurpose building. We played basketball, scrabble, boggle and trivial pursuit. Then we all watched a movie. Vanessa came in and Christin did too and so both the Shelton boys were happy. My cousin, Jaime, from Reno was there too and I got to see my five year old cousin that I've never met before. He was smart and a handful, but really fun to hang out with.