Grandpa

It's been a very long and difficult past 5 days. My Grandpa Starman passed away on Thursday evening. He was out for his daily walk and slipped on the ice and hit his head...causing bleeding on the brain. My dad and his family had to take him off of life support later that night. It was all very sudden and very much a shock. He was well-loved, the father of my Dad's farm, our family's faith, an incredibly talented wood worker, a passionate accordian player and singer, and a dearly loved Grandpa and father and husband and brother and friend....I'm too tired and overwhelmed to blog anything other than the only thing that has mattered to me in the past few days, so I'm sharing with you the poem I wrote in his memory. Please keep him and my Grandma and family in your prayers...and have a blessed week.

The Carpenter

You say my Grandpa was a carpenter

who crafted perfection from wood,

but my Grandpa was an artist

who created beauty lik no one else could.

With music in his heart,

Grandpa was a carpenter who could sing.

His life and creations were a song

whose lyrics will forever ring.

A carpenter can construct a house,

not a home like Grandpa would build

as he tirelessly toiled for his family

who grew strong on the land he had tilled.

And as a carpenter forms wood,

Grandpa built a faith he held dear,

carrying it and sharing it with determination

to remind all that God is always near.

Carpenters need nails to close

the places Grandpa simply used his heart to fill.

He was building memories and lessons

that will remain inour hearts forever - building still.

You say my Grandpa was a carpenter,

but he's an artist, singing now above,

for God build a house in Heaven

where the carpenter can rest forever in love.