A funeral

Last week we were in Connecticut. J's grandmother passed away. It was expected, but sudden, if that makes sense. We flew out last week and stayed at his grandfather's house in Meriden, Connecticut. It was an unfortunate reason to travel out there, but we had a nice time. I even got to go to Manhattan for the first time! Pics to come.
J has a HUGE family, Italian on his grandfather's side and Puerto Rican on his grandmother's side. I met over a 100 family members and I LOVED it! I don't have a large family so it was all very new and exciting for me to meet everyone.

(Here's a pic of Jordan after the funeral. On a humerous note: He and lots of his other family looked like they belonged to the MOB. He looked so handsome I couldn't let the chance go by without a photograph!)




















The funeral service was a very traditional Spanish Catholic ceremony. It was beautiful and I was fascinated with all of the ritualistic steps. J's grandparents were married for 65 years, but they were childhood friends and got married shortly after high school. They shared a life together for over 75 years! It was horribly tragic to see his grandfather alone, but bittersweet as well because their story is so romantic. If you haven't seen The Notebook or read the book by Nicholas Sparks, you need to. His grandparents had a romance that is portrayed very accurately in that story. About 5 years ago, J's grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. In the last year of her life, she really deteriorated. She couldn't recognize anyone, not even the closest family members. The only person she responded to was J's grandfather. When he walked into the room, her eyes would light up. He is the only one she could recognize and remember. Watching J's grandfather motion through all of the funeral steps was hard. I believe that he wanted to make sure that his wife of 65 years was honored. The funeral ceremony was the last gift that he could give her to honor their love and the life that they shared together. After it was all said and done I could see the energy in him dissipate. He made it though the ceremonies to celebrate her life and now he's ready to join her.
We don't know how long J's grandfather will last now without his life companion and who can blame him? He's lived a wonderful, long life and he's lived the dream. He was with the person he was head over heals in love with for most of his life. Their story was a true love story. I can only hope and dream that J and I can continue that love in our story. I write this post in honor of J's grandparents....
Olegario & MariaTraverso



A and her Grandfather, Olegario.