My dad's dad, Clarence Roe Hansen, grandpa Bud as we knew him, passed away on Sunday May 23rd. He was 83 years old. Grandpa had a leg operation a few months back and had a hard time getting better from all the operations and complications following. So it wasn't too un-expected when we got the call that he had passed, however, it was still sad.
We weren't very close to my grandpa Bud, but he was a caring, thoughtful person. Despite some of the not so great things he did throughout the years he did do some nice things for us. He always brought us Christmas presents and asked our dad about us. He came to baby blessings and really did love his kids. When I mention Christmas presents it makes me laugh. Some of the presents included black leather vests, McDonalds gift cards, interesting smelling perfume, black leather fanny packs, and one year I got a decent looking jewelry box and I thought, wow, I would actually use this. When I opened it up there was a picture of him glued to the lid and a note, Merry Christmas, love Grandpa. I didn't like it at the time, that there was a picture of my grandpa in my jewelry box, but I don't mind it now.
I don't have a lot of memories of my grandpa Bud. I do have some though. I remember he had a bunch of girlfriends and one of them owned a toy store and they would take us there and we could pick out fun toys, like clicker clacker balls and slap bracelets. He also had a girlfriend who had cats and her house smelled of them, but she was really nice. Grandpa always told me I was pretty. Every time I saw him, he would say, "Look at this pretty girl." I stayed with him the week before I started my first year up at Utah State. I remember him telling me stories of the crazy people who lived in his basement and then I cried myself to sleep. He made sure I ate breakfast, and dinner, and made sure I had enough blankets to keep me warm. Grandpa always would tell stories about his youth. Playing sports, running track, he was class president and football captain. He liked to reminisce a lot. He came to Brock's baby blessing and stood in the circle. We weren't sure if he was worthy or not, but he stood up there anyway. He wanted to be there. He got lost trying to find my house after, but still came. He was a semi-supportive grandpa. He tried.
Grandpa Bud and Brock at Brock's blessing Dec. 2008
I do feel bad that I didn't know him better. No matter what he has done in his life, or who he became or how he changed, he was still my grandpa. He raised my dad, and my dad is the best dad on the planet. There is a lot of thanks to be given to my grandpa for that, not all the thanks, but a lot. I'm sorry that I never visited him in the hospital. I am sorry that I didn't visit him more when I was in Logan going to school and he lived 2 minutes away from me. I'm sorry grandpa.
I can't really say that I miss him, because I really didn't know him that well and that wouldn't be the truth, but I am sad that he is gone, but mostly sad that I didn't allow myself the chance to get to know him better.
Love you Grandpa. Until we meet again.
While we were up in Logan for grandpa's funeral services we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go to the historic Aggie Ice Cream! I worked at Aggie Ice Cream for 2 1/2 years while I went to Utah State. I got let go in my third year, for reasons many of you know, but we don't need to talk about them here. If you know me, then you already know the story. I'm a legend up there. Ha ha ha.
This is Brock's first ice cream cone. As you can see he loves it!!!
He wanted to share with everyone.
We all love Aggie Ice Cream, Yum!!
Trying to get a family picture... ha ha ha...
Look at B's face in this one, ha ha ha.
The End!
