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I hope you had a chance to take in one of the many Memorial Day ceremonies over the weekend.  I got a chance to visit the Kost Cemetery for their Memorial Day service.  It was great, sad, and moving all wrapped into one.  There was a nice crowd on hand to pay their respects to the fallen.

If you or someone in your family has served our country currently or in the past, please accept my sincerest thanks. You will never know how you have impacted each one of our lives.

As summer draws near, our high school sports are also coming to a close. The Wildcats have some very interesting teams and athletes that could make some noise at the state level. The boys golf team has been outstanding this year, With Andrue Trelstad, Thomas Overgaard and Justin Lawry finished first second and third in the conference. The girls softball team has had an incredible season, Tennis player Thomas Gillach has once again had a great season, and the Wildcat boys baseball team is looking to make some noise in the playoffs as well.  The track teams from North Branch and Chisago will have plenty of kids at state.  Good luck to all of the teams and individuals at state!

This weekend, my life changed.  My grandmother (Silver) fell and broke her pelvis. She is 99.5 years old, so any fall really scares us. I spoke with her the next day from the hospital and she was in great spirits. Joking like she always does, assuring me everything was going to be fine and that I absolutely should not drive down to Iowa.

Monday, I was on the lawn mower when my phone rang.  It was my aunt telling me things had taken a turn for the worst. My grandmother was probably not going to make it.  Now picture a middle aged man sitting on his mower right by the road weeping like a baby.  That is where I was at, I couldn’t move.  My wife, God bless her, could see something was wrong and came out to assist me.

It was the worst feeling in the world to be so far away and so helpless.  Gram was alive but not doing well. Luckily, my baby brother came up with his wife and the four of us just sat and reminisced, prayed and waited.  Then it came, she was gone.  Gone. How could it be? The one part of my life that I could always count on, no matter what.  Parents dying? She was there. Our kid’s accomplishments? She was there. Christmas, Thanksgiving - always at her house. Now nothing.

Gone is the funniest woman I have ever met in my life. Gone is the strongest person I have ever met.  Gone is my spiritual mentor. Gone is my Sunday evening phone call.

If there is anything that I can hold onto with her passing it is the fact that she repeatedly told me (and I mean like well over 100 times) that she trusts God and that was good enough for her. If it’s good enough for her, then it had better be good enough for me.  Good bye Gram.

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