{"id":536,"date":"2011-05-18T15:31:13","date_gmt":"2011-05-18T19:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=536"},"modified":"2011-05-18T16:53:49","modified_gmt":"2011-05-18T20:53:49","slug":"goodbye-grandpa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/goodbye-grandpa.html","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye, Grandpa"},"content":{"rendered":"

We went to the beach early so the children could play a bit before the final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour.\u00a0 It was Monday morning.\u00a0 The launch was scheduled for 9:23 AM.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Tuesday the week before, Frank, my husband of 49 years had died.\u00a0 Because of his commitment to Christ, we knew he was running through heaven.\u00a0 The week had been a blur of tears and laughter.\u00a0 Family and friends came by the house to drop off food or cards. They all lingered for a moment making sure that I was all right.\u00a0\u00a0Bitter-sweet times washed through our home like a reoccurring flood of healing balm.<\/p>\n

Our children,\u00a0three grandchildren\u00a0and I had spent much of Saturday sorting and dividing things that the grandchildren wanted to have as a remembrance of their Grandpa.\u00a0 He and I had often talked about what each child would want to have.<\/p>\n

\n

CLICK HERE to read more about the late Frank Howard<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

My husband was a NASA scientist who worked for 45 years on the space program.\u00a0 A good friend of Frank’s had called to accept our invitation to speak at his memorial service.\u00a0 His colleague said, “Frank was a true engineer. He always came with concrete numbers and mathematical proof for his conclusions.\u00a0 There was no guessing or using his instinct\u00a0when designing systems that related to the space program.”\u00a0\u00a0 Therefore, this final launch of the Endeavour held more significance for our family than for some of the people dotting the beach.<\/p>\n

It was a perfect day and the bird lifted from its perch, ascending into the blue sky without a hitch.\u00a0 The rest of the children and grandchildren had to return to their work.\u00a0 But my daughter, her husband, their\u00a0two children and I walked the two block to the ocean to view the spectacle.\u00a0 And we were not disappointed.\u00a0 My daughter had wrapped her arms around both of her children as we walked and said, “This is an important moment in history.\u00a0 But it is even more important for our family because Granddaddy devoted most of his career designing and working on piping that fuels the shuttle.”<\/p>\n

As we watched the silent speck rise effortlessly into space, my eight-year-old granddaughter said in a loud voice, “Goodbye, Grandpa.”\u00a0 Then she repeated it again and again as tears traced my cheeks. \u00a0I quietly wept for the loss of the man and engineer that I love.\u00a0<\/p>\n

God is so good to his children and He knows what is best for us far better than we know ourselves.\u00a0 For me, there was no greater tribute to my husband than that lovely voice speaking tender words as the vehicle disappeared, “Goodbye, Grandpa.”<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We went to the beach early so the children could play a bit before the final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour.\u00a0 It was Monday morning.\u00a0 The launch was scheduled for 9:23 AM.\u00a0 On Tuesday the week before, Frank, my husband of 49 years had died.\u00a0 Because of his commitment to Christ, we knew he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,20,40,10,12,64,4],"tags":[21,688,696,14,699,693,691,98,97,692,6,96],"class_list":["post-536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-church","category-faith","category-inspirational","category-religion","category-shuttle-endeavour","category-simple-truths","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-death-and-dying","tag-faith","tag-grief","tag-inspirational","tag-kennedy-space-center","tag-nasa","tag-religion","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-space-shuttle-endeavour"],"yoast_head":"\nGoodbye, Grandpa - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Goodbye, Grandpa - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We went to the beach early so the children could play a bit before the final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour.\u00a0 It was Monday morning.\u00a0 The launch was scheduled for 9:23 AM.\u00a0 On Tuesday the week before, Frank, my husband of 49 years had died.\u00a0 Because of his commitment to Christ, we knew he…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/05\/goodbye-grandpa.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-18T19:31:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-05-18T20:53:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. 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