Yesterday my grandpa was dying, and my daughter turned eleven. My mom and grandma went to the hospice to be with him while my stepdad and mother-in-law drove in to deliver birthday surprises to their granddaughter. Two of C’s grandparents at her doorstep to say ‘happy birthday’, three in a hospice room, one of them dying.
I thought yesterday as I was taking in this information: People that I love will feel joy today and sorrow imminently. There isn’t a better representation of how we must learn in our lifetimes to hold all of what life gives us and takes away, at once. Yesterday at 4pm, via Zoom, our family assembled to watch C open presents and revel in her family being “together” to celebrate her birthday. The next morning, at 6:10am, her great grandpa died.
These days, life feels more precarious than ever. So to have lived 91 years, long enough to have a relationship with your great grandchildren and celebrate 70 years of marriage (at a wonderful party, almost exactly one year ago), is a feat and a triumph. When I look at it this way, I see that we were given the opportunity to celebrate two lives this weekend. The young life of C, with promise and potential, inevitable future heartbreaks and losses. And the life of her great grandpa, lived well and long. May we all be so lucky.
Sooo beautifully said Meg, and so true….What a life your Grandpa, my Uncle lived….❤
This is so beautiful, Meg. I keep coming back to read it again.