02/05/2026
Last week we lost a very special person. I’ve been processing this grief and realized I just needed to write things down.
Shop was closed yesterday. And I want to thank all our customers who reached out yesterday for their grace.
Bellow is an open letter to Grampy. Hoping to share with Y’all how much this beautiful soul meant to me.
Dear Grampy,
Thank you for welcoming me into your family. I want to thank you for creating and nurturing the man I call my husband. Over the last 15 years that I’ve had the pleasure of knowing you, you’ve been a cheerleader and a big supporter of Phil and me. You watched our relationship grow from budding friendship to married life out of state, to the birth of Burrito, then the birth of our shop, and finally the birth of Zuri. Words truly can’t express how much your presence at each of those milestones meant to me.
I im going to miss going out to dinner with you and the family. Im going to miss your sense of humor and how you, low-key, had the best roast master energy. Hearing your commentary from the kitchen during a game always made me chuckle, even though I didn’t know what was going on; you just had a way of making things funny.
The thing im going to miss most is coming home late from a meeting or event and seeing you in your chair, you welcoming me home, and then wishing me a good night as I went up.
The door was always open, and a light was kept on so I could find my way through the gate.
Life now has a « Before Grampy » and « After Grampy » age statement.
I love you, and I think you knew that. Not sure what life looks like now that you’re gone because the hole I can see and feel is so big.
Grateful to have two other Philips keeping me company. Well, all is ok, and I can’t wait to share stories with Zuri about some of the fun you both had together.
Hearing from your friends at your wake and at the reception at Granite Coast about how proud you were of the shop made me smile and cry. We felt it, but hearing folks I’ve never met before was like a dollop of crème fraîche.
love you Grampy