Bitter/sweet life can be.
Bitter/sweet my friends.
This is a poem I wrote for my Grandpa. I read it at his service over the weekend.
We gather here
We come together
To celebrate life
Take a minute
Give a hug
To his family, friends and
wife
“I’ll be a son of a bitch”
This place is really packed
John McKenna Senior
You’re loved and that’s a
fact
But on this day our hearts
feel heavy
Our eyes full of tears
But my Grandpa Hotdog
You lived 81 joyful years
You’ve
created many masterpieces
Put
hard work to the test
No
matter the struggles that came your way
You
always did your best
Oh
how you loved to garden
And
grow your apple trees
I
won’t forget that orchard
Or
how perfect it used to be
Italian
chefs beware
With
Senior don’t compete
Spaghetti
with some meatballs
His
meals just can’t be beat
Let’s
not forget the deer meat
We
ate at Christmas time
Another
recipe you’ve passed down
From
your family to mine
A
carpenter you were
In
your trade and outside too
Building,
installing, and constructing
A
family through and through
My kids have grown to love
you
Buts that’s not hard to do
I’m so very thankful
For the time they spent with
you
You used to ask my Roderick
“Hey where’s the light?”
He’d take that little finger (^)
He always got it right
Now that you’re in heaven
We can see you in the stars
So all of your great
grandchildren
Will know where you are
So when I ask Roderick
“Hey, where is the light?”
He’ll take that little finger
To the star shining bright
On this day Grandpa
Eat your meatballs and cashews
Then make yourself a hotdog
That’s what you should do
Then watch a Western movie
Relax without a care
One thing about heaven
There’s no Parkinson’s up
there
It’s always hard to say
goodbye
Not too fun to face
I think we should remind
ourselves
You’re in a better place
I’m going to call up Bethany
To sing a special song
It’s written by Brad Paisley
Feel free to sing along
When I get
where I'm going
On the far
side of the sky
The first
thing that I'm gonna do
Is spread
my wings and fly
I'm gonna
land beside a lion
And run my
fingers through his mane
Or I might
find out what it's like
To ride a
drop of rain
[Chorus]
Yeah when I
get where I'm going
There'll be
only happy tears
I will shed
the sins and struggles
I have
carried all these years
And I'll
leave my heart wide open
I will love
and have no fear
Yeah when I
get where I'm going
Don't cry
for me down here
I'm gonna
walk with my grand daddy
And he'll
match me step for step
And I'll
tell him how I missed him
Every
minute since he left
Then I'll
hug his neck
[Repeat chorus]
So much
pain and so much darkness
In this
world we stumble through
All these
questions I can't answer
So much
work to do
But when I
get where I'm going
And I see
my maker's face
I'll stand
forever in the light
Of His
amazing grace
Yeah when I
get where I'm going
There'll be
only happy tears
Hallelujah
I will love
and have no fear
When I get
where I'm going
Yeah when I
get where I'm going
Don’t cry
for me down here
And
so today, it’s not goodbye
Until
we meet again
Your
memory will live on
Through
your family and friends
We
miss you Grandpa, yes we do
This
we’ll always know
We
never will forget you
Oh
we love you so
John McKenna Senior
February 4, 1932- March 11, 2013
81 years old
Grandpa and Roderick (2010)
4 Generations
Grandpa, Dad, Sean, and Roderick
Uncle Greg, Harv, Grandpa, Sean, Roderick and Uncle TR
Grandpa Age 80
Grandpa and Mckenna
I am so happy we were able to celebrate Grandpa's 81st birthday together just a few weeks before he passed
We miss and love you Grandpa XOXO
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