June 26, 2011: Grandpa’s Calling Hours

Medifast Status: Day 55, Down ~29.5lbs

We were exhausted this morning and slept in rather late.  Even so it was not that much sleep and we are changing hotels today from Canton to Alliance so we need to pack up the car and move everything again which takes a very long time, but the hotel is Alliance is about twenty dollars cheaper per night so it makes up for the move.

We were late enough that we needed to go straight to the funeral home rather than meeting the family at grandma’s house.  We were the first to arrive but were less than ten minutes ahead of everyone else.

We got to see the family for the first time at the calling hours for grandpa.  This was the first time that nearly everyone got to meet Luciana and the first time seeing Liesl in quite a long time.  This was Liesl’s second trip to Ohio.  There was a lot of family there.  We were at the calling hours for about two hours.

Grandpa’s obituary was posted online at Tributes.com:

“Ralph D. Myers Age 85, of East Canton, passed away Wednesday June 22, 2011 in Aultman Hospital. He was born October 1, 1925 in Mogadore, OH to the late Roy E. and Alverna (Goodenberger) Myers. Ralph was a 1943 graduate of Hartville High School and was a WWII Army veteran. He was an East Canton area resident for 63 years. Ralph was a member of First Christian Church where he was active with the Berean Sunday School class and was a member of the DAV. He retired from the Hoover Company in 1987 after 41 years of service and retired from Osnaburg Local Schools in 1993 after 16 years of service. In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by one daughter, Karen Miller. He is survived by his wife, Doris Arlene (VanVoorhis) to whom he was married 63 years; three daughters and sons-in-law, Marlene and Don Ryan of Louisville, Cheryl and Dennis Lillie of Louisville, Gayle M. Myers of N. Canton; son-in-law, Tom Miller of New York; four grandchildren, Scott (Dominica) Miller, Gwendolyn (Michael) Grossi, Brett and Monica Lillie; two great-grandchildren, Liesl and Luciana Miller; two sisters, Ila Ruthrauff of Texas and Beulah Pool of N. Canton.”

After the calling hours Dominica, Liesl, Luciana and I drove up to Louisville to look for food.  Between our vegetarian needs and now my Medifast needs it is really hard to get food that we can eat.  We tried going to Mike’s Milann’s but they are not open on Sundays.  That was the only restaurant that everyone thought would work for us.  We thought that we were probably going to have to drive some distance when someone recommended that we try out Grinder’s, also in Louisville.

Grinder’s turned out to be an amazing find.  We had no idea that there was something like this in Stark County, Ohio.  Grinder’s is like a local version of TGI Friday’s or Appleby’s but far better.  The menu is extensive, the food is really good and unlike the national chains that have all made a deliberate point of snubbing vegetarians, Grinder’s goes out of their way to have awesome vegetarian and pescatarian options including a dedicated vegetarian menu and an in-house made veggie burger made primarily from quinoa that is one of, if not the, best we have ever had. We are definitely coming back to Grinder’s and telling everyone about it.  What a great find.

After finding a late lunch we returned to my grandparents’ house in East Canton and spent the evening with the family.  Everyone was very excited to get to spend time with Luciana.  She was very popular.

We turned in early this evening.  By nine thirty we were on our way out to Alliance so that we could check in to our hotel there.  We are staying here for a few days so, for the first time since leaving Texas, we will get to get up tomorrow morning without having to reload the Acadia before heading out for the day.

Even getting to the hotel before ten we were still unable to actually get to bed before midnight.

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