I remember on this very day a year ago, many of us gathered to celebrate Joe. It was a surprise party for his birthday!!! When I got word about it, I was soooo excited! It was fun sneaking around Joe's back - knowing that he would love the surprise, only after he was done being irritated. :) LOL

I remember the look on his face when he turned the corner and pow! a whole room of family and friends shouted and smiled at him. He smiled back, kinda - I don't remember the exact words, but something smart came from him, I am sure. :) We almost got in trouble, even though we weren’t the ones that planned it – I don’t think it mattered though, he knew we were all in on it together. We all had a great dinner, laughs and really had a good time. He handled the surprise well & was in such good spirits the whole night. Joe didn't like to be the center of attention, unless it was on his time and his decision.

Everyone once in a while, Joe made that decision – and watch out world, you might not know who Joe Grien is – but he would make sure you were watching! Which made him very fun to be around. Especially when hanging out with David (his cousin and friend), those two would get so goofy; Sue and I would just sit back to watch (babysit).  LOL David shared a little bit about a Habachi dinner, put put golf and taunting other cars night – some day I’ll let you know how that really went down. 

Your dad loved food; cooking it AND eating it. That is the majority of David and I's best memories, going out to eat with Joe and Sue. We liked food just as much, but somehow it showed up on us more than him - working for UPS I think he was able to burn more of our weekend delights off faster! :) Granted, he also would work out while training with the fire dept; which he loved!

I remember having Steak Night a bunch of times, Joe and David would grill. Sue and I would get everything else ready. Joe, Sue and I had similar seasoning tastes, which was really nice that way I didn't think I was crazy when David would complain about my cooking. LOL

I love how Uncle Steve wrote about Joe being a “quotes guy”; that is so true, I just didn't know how to say it. The quotes that I heard most were from our fav movies. We used to watch all kinda of movies and each one would show back up in life within a few days - when the moment was right, to use a quote from the movie. Some got used over and over - and still do till this day. Joe definitely made David and I pay more attention to these movies, so we could play along in the months to come. We are still training Sue though. :) I just hope that you (Jacob) will have the same awesome, wild, warped sense of humor that Joe did – and from what I can see now, you do. And that’s great! We’ll be able to have lots of good times.

In closing, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOE!!! You should know that even without you here celebrating with us – we are still celebrating you! Love you so much & can’t believe all that you have done for each of us! Thank you for the smiles, movies, steaks, laughs, tears, and honesty that you taught us how to share with you, and now without you. Even now, we are still growing from the time that we spent with you and we know that we are still so blessed to have you in our life! It is good for us to remember, it is good for us to still laugh, because if we weren’t – you would make us laugh by reminding us that “you piss excellence” (Talledega Nights), or that “it's so good, once it [beer] hits your lips, its so good” (Old School), or maybe even “We're gonna dance to one song, and one song only” (Blades of Glory). HEY MOM! CAN WE GET SOME MEATLOAF? (Wedding Crashers)

It's been over 150 days...

It's been over 170 days since David and I lost one of our best friends. I kept thinking that I would write something in a while, ... in a while - maybe later. However, now I am starting to see that it's probably more that because I haven't written anything, that it still hurts so much, verses finding the "right" time to write after the hurt starts to fade. Cuz it isn't and I am starting to wonder if it does.

October 11, 2009
David and I went over to have dinner and watch a movie with Joe and Sue. It wasn't a surprise that he didn't get up for dinner or wasn't interested in eating. He had been fighting this for over a year and a half; it wasn't over yet, but there wasn't much they could do. Keeping Joe comfortable was the priority. We had tried to keep his awake time, for other visitors and didn't bombard them like we would have liked too. Both Joe and Sue would get so tired from too many visitors; they were battleing this together, and both were showing signs of stress. We didn't want to make it hard on them- but at the same point, hanging out every weekend was so normal we couldn't stay away. David and I are both so very very blessed to have that last thing that we said to Joe that that we loved him, his response was he loved us too. And I will always treasure that!