BYE, BYE GRAMPA!

A week ago my father-in-law, Wladyslaw (Walter) Parij, passed away at the age of 88.  He was born in Poland, and was a veteran of WWII, specifically of the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy.  He endured many hardships in his early years before he emigrated to Canada after the war.  There he met his wife, Jozefa and they had four children, one of whom is my husband (also Walter Parij).

In the last few years he was living in a retirement home which he called "The Hotel".  By this point he had Alzheimer's and was pretty confused, but happy at his room in the hotel with its regular meals (for which he was normally first in line).

We would bring him to our house on a regular basis for dinner and a visit -- and that included kitty time, too, of course.

Here he is on his 88th birthday last May.

Walter Sr. never had a pet of his own.  He thought animals only belonged on a farm.  However, as he mellowed in his latter years he became quite enamoured of my three cats -- especially Dante who knew who "Grampa" was and would come out to greet him whenever I yelled "Grampa's here!".

 Grampa was always good for some real good chin 'scritchens'.  Even though Dante loved him, he was still compelled to do that arms' length thing that cats are wont to do.

Dante liked to sit on one of the extra dining chairs closest to Grampa, but would hop down when offered something yummy.

Grampa and Dante weren't just fairweather furiends -- oh no!  Whatever the weather, they'd sit together.

Grampa would even kiss Dante on his mouth, though I never managed to capture one of those special moments on camera.

Grampa loved to dangle toys at the kitties.  It aMEWSed him endlessly.  Here he is enticing Dylan to play.

And, on the softer side, if he could catch one, Grampa liked to cuddle.  Domino was happy to oblige.

I am so glad that Grampa was able to experience the joy of pets in his last years.  They never failed to make him smile.

Grampa passed quickly and peacefully and we'll all miss him, as we do with all of those we care about.  Bye, bye Grampa!  See you later on the Bridge.