Walking...?

Could it be? Do we really have a walker on our hands???  After the service today, Cal and I were playing like we usually do, and lately, Cal has been taking 1-2 steps towards me, but usually falls down.  This afternoon, he was standing for a really long period, so I thought I would try to see how far he could go.  I held out my hands, and then kept backing up and backing up.  Cal kept walking to me and walking to me.  He made it all the way across the room (about 15 steps!) so I decided to grab the camera.  It was wayyyy hard to film it on my own, but I had to try.  When Eddie got home, he sat on one side of the room and I sat on the other with the camera.  Cal was pretty proud of himself!

Here is a link to the video.  Once again, please ignore my voice (sigh), but this time, also ignore Eddie in his boxers in the background....HA!!!

This happiness was like a little gift from above after the sadness of this morning.

What do you think?  Will he be full on walking soon??

God's Work

I try to not be overly religious on my blog because I know not all readers share the same religious values that I do/my family does.  There is nothing wrong with that at all.  Everyone is different, obviously! After reading my last post, I realized I came across as MEGA Debby Downer and that wasn't the purpose.  Sometimes I write just to get feelings out and then go back later and realize how dramatic I sound. I wasn't trying to sound like I was some great person...it was just a way of expressing my emotions for all that had happened in the past few days......

This morning was my grandfather's memorial service.  We had it in the chapel of Croasdaile Village, where my grandparents are living.  It was so special-- Grandpa would have loved it.   My wonderful friend, Andrea, showed up.  She has known Grandpa for a loooooong time and grandpa would always ask about her. I was thrilled to see her there.  It meant so much.  A lot of grandpa's buddies showed up too, which is just so great to see. 

My mom got up in front and read a poem by Henry Van Dyke called "A Parable of Immortality."  Grandpa loved the water and being on the water in a sailboat, so this poem was especially fitting.  You can look it up if you want to read it (I would recommend it-- it's beautiful), but my favorite lines are as follows (her meaning the ship):

Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment
when someone at my side says, " There she goes! "
there are other eyes watching her coming . . .
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout . . .

" Here she comes! "

Grandpa used to always look around at the family when we were all together and say, "Isn't this a great family?" or "Is this family great or what?"  I could feel him there today with us smiling down thinking just that: what a GREAT family we have.