I don't even remember what we were talking about before the call came. It doesn't matter anyway because it was one of those calls where your world is totally changed afterward. It's been so long since I've received the Bad News Call that I wasn't sure what was going on.
But January 1992 came rushing back to me as Kieley slumped to the floor and began to cry. Her grandfather died today, you see, and that is not an experience I have been through for a very long time. Still, I am glad I could be there for her, and that I could empathize in some way.
It's hard for me to know quite how to honor the memory of a man whom I have never met, but I felt like I should say something. I am glad that he is finally relieved of the suffering he was going through. It's a beautiful thing to know that in his final days he was starting to read again and in the middle of a book he found interesting. I told Kieley that we should all hope to be so lucky.
I never met him, but I will always know his affect on this world as his writers' spirit lives on every day in his wonderful granddaughter who I love. When someone dies we are always quick to think of the things that person never had a chance to see or do before we take the opportunity to celebrate all the things that person has seen and done. And while the book Kieley's grandfather was reading will remain unread, his entire life has finally been lived. There is no need to lament either notion.
I will be happy to continue to get to know Kieley's grandfather through the stories she has learned to tell so well and the life she is so generous to share with me.
But January 1992 came rushing back to me as Kieley slumped to the floor and began to cry. Her grandfather died today, you see, and that is not an experience I have been through for a very long time. Still, I am glad I could be there for her, and that I could empathize in some way.
It's hard for me to know quite how to honor the memory of a man whom I have never met, but I felt like I should say something. I am glad that he is finally relieved of the suffering he was going through. It's a beautiful thing to know that in his final days he was starting to read again and in the middle of a book he found interesting. I told Kieley that we should all hope to be so lucky.
I never met him, but I will always know his affect on this world as his writers' spirit lives on every day in his wonderful granddaughter who I love. When someone dies we are always quick to think of the things that person never had a chance to see or do before we take the opportunity to celebrate all the things that person has seen and done. And while the book Kieley's grandfather was reading will remain unread, his entire life has finally been lived. There is no need to lament either notion.
I will be happy to continue to get to know Kieley's grandfather through the stories she has learned to tell so well and the life she is so generous to share with me.
This is such a beautiful thing you've written, John. You made me cry with happy memories and in knowing, as you reaffirm everyday, what a powerfully incredible thing love is.
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