His Last Days

I am going to do my best with this post to find the right words and story to tell to honor my grandfather as much as I can. This post is not like others I have written before. It is not laugh out loud funny or a story about my kids. It is a story about my life and it is a story that I hope will resonate with all of you. I hope it inspires you to be better.

I just got back from a trip to see my grandfather for the last time. His body is dying.

He and I have been close my entire life. Whether good or bad I have learned many life lessons from him. He is a fighter. He has served in our military, had 2 heart attacks, 8 bypasses on his heart, stage 4 lung cancer, lost a daughter at a early age and I am sure others that I either forgot or do not know about. Now, he has legions on his brain that spread from his lungs. He is like a cat. He keeps coming back and overcoming. Technically he should have been dead 28 years ago.  At the end of the day it is truly amazing what the human body can overcome and endure.

In this final visit, I saw a man that did not know what day or time it was but remembered every vacation we had ever been on and what we did when we were there. I felt a hand holding my hand that could grip you and never let go yet the same body struggled to stand. It was almost a perfect paradox. We remembered the good times, the times we laughed the most and smiled the biggest. I cherished something as simple as holding his hand as tight as we both could. This is a man that at 85 shot his age on the golf course. That is what I am choosing to focus on. Not these last days. That is not what he would have wanted anyway.

He did not want a funeral, any formal service or a burial. He requested that we celebrate his life. As I sit and write this and do my best to find the words to best honor him I think that both his life and death teach me how to live and appreciate life. We only have one body. His lasted 87 years through battles and wars. I think all of us at some point or another do not take the best care of ourselves. We consciously make poor choices because we are having a bad day or because we think we deserve it or we think that a pill can fix our poor lifestyle.

This one body of ours is a gift. It is a gift that has no replacement parts that ever work the same as the original. I invite you all who decided to read this to honor yourself and your gift today and for the days to follow. Make a commitment to yourself and your health to live the best you can while we are all still here.

As my grandfather would say before any big hockey game of mine that he attended or over the phone after a conversation, “Go get’em!”