"Grandbobby"

Kind of a funny name for a grandparent, huh? So the story goes, I was 3 when my grandmother (I call her Nannie), married Bobby. They were both 43 at the time and it was a second marriage for them both. My mom and Nannie called him "Bobby" but of course, in the deep South, that would never work for a 3 year old, so out came "Grandbobby" :) As you can tell from these photos, he's a very jolly man and always has been. Born during the Depression (1933), times were very hard, espcially in the Mississippi Delta. He was actually raised by family friends because his mom couldn't care for him and he didn't get very far in school. He joined the military and served as a cook in the navy for years, before coming back to Belzoni and working 2 jobs the rest of his life. He led a simple life, was ALWAYS grateful for what he had and ALWAYS smiling. And perhaps the most endearing part, was that he always took great care of my Nannie, who was diagnosed with Alzhiemer's 10 years ago. Increasingly, he did all the cooking, cleaning, washing, gardening, and only left her side for a day or so when my mom or friends could stay with her. He was in decent health, but suddenly passed away yesterday, peacefully at his home. It was a shock to us all and especially hard on my mom, who was the first to the scene and her only family (us) here across the globe! :( This is certainly the part of "ex-pat" life that is the hardest.. not being able to be there in these moments. So please say a prayer for our family over the next few days as we mourn the loss of our sweet Grandbobby. We were able to spend a few days with them around Christmas this year (just 6 weeks ago!) and now that all my travels were blogged about, I was JUST about to post these pictures!!?? I'm so happy that we had those memories with them and these last great photos of us all together. Our little family..