So I was finally drafting a long post about our wonderful two-week family vacation when our worlds were completed rocked by the death of Sophie's paternal grandfather,
Bill Oxenford.
We got the call early Tuesday morning that Poppy passed away in his sleep. None of us expected this to happen. While he was not in great health (he had a heart condition called Cardiomyopathy and Diabetes), he had been healthy enough to go in to the hospital on July 9th for eye surgery. He was apparently recovering fairly well and was a ball of energy the day before he passed away. So while we are all relieved that he passed peacefully in his sleep and did not end up suffering a long drawn out illness or hospitalization, we were all in shock at his sudden departure and mourning the loss of such a huge part of our lives.
Poppy was larger than life with a huge heart and boundless joy, especially when it came to Sophie. Our greatest sorrow is that Sophie won't get more time with her Poppy but we are so grateful that she got to know him at all and that in the time they did have together, they brought each other so much joy. At the services on Saturday neighbors and friends came up to us and wanted to meet us because all Poppy talked about was Sophie and they wanted to see this little person who captured Poppy's big heart so fully. We will keep Poppy's memory alive for Sophie forever and it will be instilled in her through her father who embodies so many of the amazing qualities Poppy had. I told Jim that when we were first falling in love, I fell for so many of his wonderful qualities and morals: his loyalty and faithfulness, his loving nature, his sense of humor, his honor, his high value on family and his desire to care for his loved ones through food cooked with love. Then, when I met Jim's Dad I realized that he got so many of these wonderful traits from Poppy. I felt so lucky and so happy because I saw a glimpse to my future life with Jim through his father and how he was with his own wife and daughter and family and I loved what I saw.
We are all still a bit in shock and I'm sure will be for some time. We are spending as much time as possible out in Pottstown with the family and helping Nanny in any way we possibly can. Slowly we will build ourselves back up to live life without this amazing man. Holidays will be incredibly tough. Poppy was always in the kitchen preparing the galumpkies for Easter or the mashed potatoes for Christmas. We will miss his laugh. We will miss his big bear hugs and we will miss the way his whole face lit up whenever Sophie did anything. We will miss the way he said "oh, I love ya, I love ya, I love ya". It will never be the same without him. But we will hug each other extra tight and remember the good times. Remember the love he showed and try to love each other as much as he loved all of us.
We love and miss you so much Poppy... You are forever in our hearts.
