Long Lost Photos

When I was about 6 months pregnant with Lola, my family knew that my grandpa, Papa, wasn't going to be around for much longer. Being especially close my whole life with Gram & Papa, I never wanted to think about there ever being a possibility that they wouldn't be here. I wanted so badly for Papa to meet my baby, and when she was born, he got to be around for the first 6 weeks of her life. The last time he left his house before Hospice, he came to meet Lola, his seventh great grandchild. I didn't take any photos because I was pretty emotional about it and wanted to soak up every second of their meeting. My mom assured me that she would share the photos she was taking on her camera. Somehow, she misplaced the photos on her computer and I had thought for the past year that they were long gone, which made me so sad because they were the only photos I had of Papa and Lola. About a month ago, she found them. I am so grateful to have these photos to share with Lola.

He just stared at her sweet little face and smiled. Before he left, he looked at me with a smile, grabbed my hand and said, "You did good." He was a man of little words, but they always meant the world to me.

Gram met Lola the day she was born, and had to hold her every time she saw her. She would tell me stories of her own babies, and usually pick out features on Lola that she thought looked like me or Dan. And of course, she ALWAYS had something to say about Lola's outfits, even if she was just in pajamas.