Ride Grandpa, Ride

My grandpa grew up riding horses.  That was one of his favorite things to do.

A couple years ago he went on the hunt for the perfect horse.  Everyone helped him track down a horse, when he finally wound up with this Appaloosa that he named Chico.

As my grandpa got older it was harder for him to ride and we all knew that but we knew this horse would make his day.  You would go down to his house and he would say,

~If it wasn’t so cold I’d ride Chico today
~If it wasn’t so hot I’d ride Chico today
~I’m going to ride Chico tomorrow if the weather permits
~If I had shoes on Chico I’d ride him
~The next time your dad has the horse shoer out I’m going to have him put shoes on Chico

…. you name it, he’d say it.

My grandpa has always made it known that he wanted to be cremated.  I’ve known that since I was a little kid.  That is a freaky thought as a little kid, I’ll tell ya, but I’ve always known that.  Well as we started making funeral arrangements we came up with a brilliant idea, Grandpa needed to ride Chico.

With the help of the funeral home, we took a pill bottle of my grandpa’s ashes out of the urn and took them home with us.  To some of you, this may sound morbid… and it’s maybe a little weird, but I’ve heard of people doing things like this with their loved one’s ashes.  Putting them to sea, putting them on top of a mountain, you name it, I’m sure it’s been done.

Well Grandpa, you are finally getting your dream, Ride like the wind!

Tuesday was the funeral.  We all gathered at their house Tuesday evening around chore time and placed my grandfather on Chico.

I’m not going to lie, that was a very hard and difficult thing to do, but it was oddly reassuring that my grandpa got to ride his beloved horse Chico.

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