The Last Easter with Pawpaw

Our Easter's for the most part have always belonged to West Virginia.

Our family would pile into our mini van and make the almost 4 hour journey up highway 77 to MawMaw & Pawpaw's house just outside of Charleston.

The Easter break was always more fun spent there.

The weather is always crisp and cool, and the entire weeks vacation would be spent on Mawmaw & PawPaw's front porch watching the kids play in the huge, green front yard.


My three very talented sister-in-laws plan a huge Easter egg hunt that even the big kids enjoy. Mawmaw always makes her delicious BBQ ribs (anything Mawmaw makes is delicious). Life just slows down for that week and we can relax and appreciate the joys of having a large family and extended family.


And on Easter morning, after the Easter Bunny has visited, we all get dressed in our Easter clothes and go to church as a very large family. We easily take up 3 pews and this always made Pawpaw smile. Pawpaw loved seeing his grandchildren dressed so nicely. He was a sucker for a pretty granddaughter in a poofy, Easter dress. He liked to show off his handsome bunch.



After services we race into downtown Charleston and enjoy an Easter brunch at the Embassy Suites. Pawpaw always insisted on paying for everybody (huge check as we always had at least 18 people but he insisted).


He would sit at the end of the very large table and smile over his large brood.

Last year's Easter was a rough one. Pawpaw was undergoing an extensive chemotherapy regime. He had lost so much weight and had very little energy. He could have easily skipped church and even the big meal at Embassy Suites. He had every right to given his condition. But he didn't. He got dressed and somehow found the energy to spend one last lovely Easter with his precious family.

No one said it at the time, but we all knew it would be our last Easter with him. We choked back tears when our visit came to an end. We all squeezed him extra tight. I didn't know at the time it would be the last time I saw him, but I hugged him extra long just in case.

Mawmaw and Pawpaw always stand in the driveway and wave us off as we leave. This last time we waved longer. We shared an incredible last Easter with an even more incredible man. We miss you, Pawpaw.