Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Love You Grandpa Cusick

My wonderful Grandpa Cusick passed away on Saturday February 13th, 2010. This is a shot of 3 generations of Cusick Men @ the Levan house. It's a few years old, and not the best, but all I could find today. And I wanted to write.

Grandpa was a man at an early age, due to life circumstances and his families need for him to help them survive. He worked hard his entire life. He married my beautiful grandma at age 19. They went on to have 4 children, 18 grandchildren and more than a few great and great-great grandchildren.
Jeff and I had the opportunity to live with my grandparents when we were first married. We became very close and all shed tears when we moved out. Grandpa was more sad to say good-bye to Jeff than to me and baby Brady!
Grandpa had a few querks about him. One was that he always had a pocket knife in his pocket. A real man needed to be able to be handy at any time, and he always was. Jeff started carrying one around, and grandpa was very happy the day Jeff pulled out that pocket knife to help with an odd task!
Grandpa ate bacon, eggs, and coffee every morning. The smell would mix and come down to the basement. I don't think there is a more comforting smell than that to this day.
Grandpa was always tinkering with something. He often had greasy hands, cut from some piece of metal, that he would wash over and over to get clean. He always faked a serioius injury to those of us who didn't like the site of blood...yelling that he needed to get ot the hospital for this serious injury... all he ever really did was slap on a bandaid!
We were not, under any circumstance, to get hurt. He was very cautions, getting after us when we got to close to fireworks (which I can not believe he allowed), fire pits, holding scissors, or hand stitching quilts with grandma! I know now why he was so worried... kids are not safe!
He was a map maker. My grandparents had a house in Levan, Utah for most of my life. It is a tiny town. When I was 8 it was even smaller. The "general store" was a few blocks away but that trip required a detailed map, and instructions on where to cross streets, when and why. I was sure he'd follow us to be sure we were ok, and never cheated on the directions, but he never did.
He loves my grandma, never wanted her to be in danger. He locked the front door even to go outside to look around. I am still a door locker after living with him. So I appologize if I have ever locked you IN my house!
We love you Grandpa, and know that you are warmly welcomed in Heaven by your family!

4 comments:

Sarah Bogh said...

Melinda I am so sorry about your Grandfather. So many of the things you talked about in this post remind me of my Grandfather who died almost 8 years ago. That is so great that Jeff got to know him so well! I hope that you all can be comforted and find peace with his death. I hope the funeral goes well and that you can have a safe trip home!

Kara said...

I'm so sorry about your Grandpa too! I'm glad that you got to know him so well and have such fond memories. Aren't you glad you know he's in a better place and you'll see him again some day? I love ya and hope to see you soon too!

Advice from Ordinary People Flourishing Together said...

This is such a nice post. I love that you had a chance to reflect like this!

Grandma Patti said...

Why did you put that picture of dad on their? His hair is short and he looks like he is farting. OMG, Mom