Grandpa, Work & Community

As many of you might have read on my previous blog post, gramps was diagnosed with Acute Leukemia last week Tuesday.  Grandpa Tom is the founder of Grimmius Cattle Company (family calf ranch where I work).  So as you can imagine, not only was the news of the leukemia diagnosis devastating and shocking to our family, but we also knew that it would mean a lot of shifting responsibilities around here at the ranch.  Even though he worked from home for the most part, Grandpa was still heavily involved in work around the calf ranch, .  He purchased all of our beef cattle from cattle sales, he purchased all of the feed for our calves and basically, grandpa was the direction of the calf ranch that the rest of our office and work force moved around.  Grandpa was (still is) the man.  But with gramps up north at Stanford for the next month doing chemo, naturally, we needed to adjust some things here on the home front.

So, I’ve been MIA on the Social Media front.  I’ve been playing catch up from missing a couple of days of work due to visiting grandpa and then trying to figure out a game plan of how I can keep up with my different (old and new) job responsibilities.  It’s been a challenge, but it’s totally do-able.  All of that to say, I have not forsaken you, my sweet Tweeps, Facebook-ers & blog readers, but I’ll need you to bear with me as I might not be socializing as frequently throughout this next month.  Although, I will try my best.  Because I love all of you!

One thing I wanted to share about this whole experience of grandpa being sick:  I’ve realized how tightly-knit the agriculture community is.  And I love it.  When I first tweeted about my grandpa’s diagnosis, I received encouraging words from people whom I’ve never even met before.  On Facebook & Care Pages, we have heard from people whose lives my grandpa impacted recently, or years ago.  Whether it was through meeting him at cattle sales, hauling his cattle for him, having him as a first boss, you name it…you’ve said you’re praying for him and I can’t tell you how much that means.

My family as an entirety has felt a peace that passes all understanding during this time.  It’s a peace that can only come from God and I can just feel the prayer that is covering my grandpa, grandma and the rest of our family.  I want to say, “Thank you.”  And “Keep on prayin’!”  We can’t ever get enough of your thoughts and prayers.  I’m so thankful for the community that God has blessed me with – whether I’ve met you through social media, school, work, or play…I’m thankful for you and the encouragement that you’ve given.

One quick side note, I’ll try to post blog updates on my grandpa, but if you’d like frequent updates, we’ve set up a “Care Pages” page for him.  You’ll have to sign up for Care Pages by entering in your email address, but then you can read mini blogs that my grandma, mom and aunt post about grandpa’s current condition.  You can even leave a note of encouragement, if you’d like!  🙂 http://www.carepages.com//  Once you’re on Care Pages, search for “TomGrimmius.”  Again, thanks so much for all of your thoughts, prayers and encouraging words.

Grandpa & Grandma with all of the Grimmius grandkids on Thanksgiving 🙂 We still wore our 5k Turkey Trot shirts!