Early Monday morning, Eastern time, my grandfather died at the age of 88. He was a great man, sound of mind and strong of body, and the paragon of every virtue. He is the man I want to become, and the sort of man every person should aspire to. They say he went peacefully, and I know that he was ready, because death could not take him without his permission. I think he’s the only one who was ready… I know I wasn’t.
It’s hard to read something like that and not respond. i don’t know what to say, and I can’t really relate to what you’re going through, but I and I’m sure everyone else will be thinking about you and your family.
Flup!
Sorry about your loss. Sounds like a great man and you were lucky to know him.
All my thoughts to you and your family.
Peter.
My condolences to you and your family, Chronos.
I’m sorry to hear it mate. Words always seem woefully inadequate at a time like this, but my thoughts are with you and yours.
Cherish the memories. If you can, celebrate his life rather than mourn his passing. He sounds like a wonderful man.
He’s dead.
People die.
So will you.
So will I.
You speak as though your grandfather really -lived- though. And that’s what’s important. I don’t know if you’re a praying man, Chronos…or even if yer a christian man…but for what it’s worth–I’ll be praying tonight. For you–and for him.
As humans–it is within our nature to do whatever we can to halt death’s advance. Our technology–our medicine–our doctors. We strive to learn and understand the meaning of life–and above all, to preserve it–because it is something we regard as very sanctified and beautiful.
And when a life is lost–the most we can do is remember that time waits for no living thing–and that it was inevitable–and most of all, hope that we at least -tried- to preserve–and hope that the life was lost with dignity, and clarity. Above all–Clarity. To know that a person lived his life with clarity and made an influence on the world. That he served as a good man–somebody you looked up to. And in that way–though he is only mortal–our loved ones will live on.
Forever.
-Ashley
Edited quote:
The true legacy of any great man is the number of great men he inspires.
My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Cordially,
Myron M. Meyer
The Man Who
When I had been in the Air Force for a little more than a year, my grandmother (my dad’s mom) passed away unexpectedly.
My parents had driven down to San Jose to pick grandma up and bring her back to Sacramento for a visit. She was still pretty-much independent and lived in her own apartment. They arrived fairly early in the morning, and they let themselves in with their key. Grandma was still asleep, so they started to fix some coffee while they waited. They checked later, and found that she had rolled from her side to her back, and was propped up in bed with her eyes closed, clutching her Bible in her hands, with a smile on her face. Apparently she had passed away in that position.
I didn’t find out about her death until the day of the funeral. I was stationed in Germany, and my First Sergeant would not recommend me for emergency leave (he was a Senior Master Sergeant bucking for Chief, and wasn’t much of a people person until he made it). It was only the second death in my family I’d ever dealt with, apart from the dog. I was pretty upset for several months afterwards.
{{{Chronos}}}
~~Baloo
My sympathies are with you. Be glad that you had someone worth emulating. Both of my grandfathers were cold, prejudiced and uncongenial men who served as crappy role models. Remember to celebrate his life through your own following in his footsteps.
All The Best,
Chris
It feels like a void that cannot be filled when someone wonderful leaves our lives. But it sounds like his legacy will live on in you, Chronos, as you strive to be the person you want to be (and are). I don’t know you except from what you post here on these boards, but from what I’ve read, I would think your grandfather would be very proud of his eloquent grandson. My thought are with you and your family.
Lisa
Chronos, I second what brachy said. From what I have read in your posts, you are very much a fine, admirable, well-respected man just like your grandfather and I’m certain he was very proud of you. We are never ready to let go of people we hold so very close to our hearts but you can comfort yourself with knowing that from the description of your grandfather, he was ready to see what other kinds of challenges he could face.
My sympathies are with you and your family for having to face the loss of such a great man. My grandfather was a very honest, decent and forthright man and I think about him everyday. I know the hurt you are feeling and I’m sorry that you have to go through that. However, I can tell you from experience that eventually you will be able to remember him and the wonderful person that he was without feeling the sadness of loss. Rather, you will find that remembering him allows you to become more and more like him so he will always be with you.
{{{{{{{{{{Chronos}}}}}}}}}}
I’m ver sorry, Chronos. You and your family have my deepest sympathy.
Remember that your grandfather still lives, as long as he’s still in your heart.
There are no words, Chronos. {{{{{{{{{Chronos}}}}}}}}}}
Please add my condolences to the mix. It certainly seems as if he lived a valuable and valued life, and that he’s left a noble legacy in his family. May your memories bring you comfort as you grieve.
My condolances, Chronos. I lost my own grandfather just two months ago, at age 87. He, too, lived long and happily - and in good health. The knowledge that he went peacefully set my mind at ease - I hope it will do the same for you.
I’m sorry to hear it Chronos. I never met my Grandfathers. I wish I knew them like you knew yours.
Thinking of you and yours; Graeme
but I’m willing to bet grandson will be a chip off the grand old block.
I am so sorry. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
Paula
I’m so sorry. It’s hard to know what to say in these circumstances–having been through them myself, I don’t know what I wanted to hear either. It’s bittersweet to know that you’re losing someone who is ready to go and at peace with it, but who will be so deeply missed. It is so hard to be the one left behind. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Your grampa’s warmth of spirit and love for you will never die–I know that sounds corny, but I’ve been and am where you are and it helps to know that.
take care of you,
struuter
Chronos, I’m so sorry for your loss.
My grandfather, aged 85, is my hero and I pray every day that I won’t lose him even though I know it’s probably coming in the next few years. Whenever I read this poem, I think of my grandfather - his courage, his willingness to fight the good fight and help others(even now he’s working as an ombudsman, crusading to get better care for nursing home patients), the wars he’s fought and the things he’s seen, his sense of adventure and mischief, and the legacy of love and courage he’s passed down to me. I know my Grampa reads the paper each day scanning the obituaries for comrades who have died, and that he thinks back upon old battles and glories like Ulysses in this poem. I know that he thanks God each day for his life and his family. I know that I want to marry someone just like him.
I hope reading this comforts you in some small way - that it makes you see your grandfather’s greatness and smile. And hope. Carry him with you.
Ulysses (Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoy’d
Greatly, have suffer’d greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Thro’ scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honour’d of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’
Gleams that untravell’d world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!
As tho’ to breathe were life. Life piled on life
Were all too little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.
This is my son, mine own Telemachus,
To whom I leave the sceptre and the isle–
Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfil
This labour, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and thro’ soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centred in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.
There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil’d, and wrought, and thought with me–
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads – you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.