Our Rock

Grandpa Carl Ivar Ostrom 6/15/1918-1/1/2013

As I sit here and begin to write this...I don't even know where to start.  My grandpa was one of, if not, THE most amazing man I have ever met.  He truly was a person that so many people looked up to.  Whether it be for advice, information, how to get somewhere (he was great with directions!), a person to go to for help...he was always there.  I have never known someone who can recollect the past as fast and as accurately as he did.  You could ask him when my brother hit a grandslam in a baseball game and he could tell you the how old Nick was and place that he did it!  He was amazing like that.  He always remembers birthdays and our family is HUGE so that is a feat in itself.  He even was giving my cousin Carlee a hard time for missing a birthday that was in August.  Carlee was thinking really hard since she is the only one with an August birthday in the fam and she went thru almost all the names and finally my grandpa said "it was Sienna's 5 month birthday!"  Duh! Sheesh Carlee get it together! :)

My grandpa loved his family...I mean really LOVED every stinking one of us.  He made hundreds of trips to graduations, sports games, dance recitals, and anything that involved his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.  Always supporting us in what we did.  He truly lived every one of his 94 years to the fullest.  He made the most of his time here and made an impact on his family, friends, community and the world.  He made it a better place and even though we thought he would outlive us all I think he was ready to go and be with the love of his life, my grandma. 

This last year, he seriously cleaned his house.  You see, my grandma was what you would call a "hoarder".  But my grandpa is so organized that when my grandma passed he went to town going up and down stairs from the attic to the basement (with one good hand! since he had a stroke he hasn't been able to use his right hand) making sure that he got everything out, given to the appropriate family members and organizing the entire house.  I don't know if he was doing it because he knew that his time here was short or that he didn't want the family to have to deal with the sorting of the house after he was gone.  He never wanted to be a burden.

When my grandpa fell a couple days before Christmas, he crawled from his room to the living room with a broken hip to call my parents.  He was that STRONG of a man.  I thought for sure when I heard that he had fallen that he would be ok, and he was until after surgery where something must of gone wrong.  He wasn't fully responding for a little more than a week and we still had a glimmer of hope that he would pull thru but I think my grandma was calling for him "Carl!!!  Get up here so we can play some pinochle!" and so he went.  But when he passed he was surrounded by his children and they said he went peacefully.  We all were lucky enough to go and visit in the hospital numerous times and tell him everything we wanted to say.  But that doesn't take away the pain of losing such an inspiring, loving, stand up man that he was.

I feel so blessed that I was chosen to be one of his many grandchildren.  He was our rock in the family.  Always holding us all together thru the good times and bad.  He kept us all grounded.  We all know that he will be smiling down on us from Heaven and we will definitely keep his strong spirit alive.  For someone who was 94 he had an impact on each and every person he met.

Grandpa,
I love you so much!!  I can still remember all the times you picked me up, went to my games, came to my rescue and were always interested in what I had going on in my life.  You never let me enter or leave your house without a hug.  And even when you were struggling to get around and up from your chair you still made a point to hug me and you always would walk me to the door and wave from the porch and not leave the porch until you knew I was driving away safely.  I am selfish and I didn't want you to go but I understand that you are in a better place.  You are making that place ten times better than it already is.  Say hi to Uncle John, Aunt Jill and Grandma for us...we miss them terribly too.  Love you with all my heart.

Your Favorite *Grandchild :)

*My family will get that joke :)