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Last Tuesday, October 21 my grandpa died. He had gotten out of the hospital two months ago and seemed to be doing better, though the doctors said he was suffering from congestive heart failure.

So it was a bit of a surprise when I got THE CALL. My aunt Polly called in when I was eating some dinner after a long day of work and I heard the voice mail going.

She proceeded to say Grampa had a heart attack and didn’t make it.

It didn’t really hit me at first the sadness of losing my beloved grandpa. I always respected the way he lived his life:

he loved Dr. Pepper.
he loved life and live each day to the fullest of happiness.
he always had a way with the ladies even into his old age.
he never took things too seriously and was always prone to joke around, laugh, and cut up.

The first few days after his death I chose to remember the life he had led and to celebrate the impact he had upon me. I wanted to remember all the good things and the good times we shared.

I know he had a profound impact on his family and those he came into contact with.

He loved to travel around and spend his money. He was very generous to all his grandkids and especially to his kids, a couple of whom he still helped with financial support into their 40s and 50s because they never could seem to get things together.

As the funeral day approached on Sunday the finality of it all started to hit me. It’s hard to explain but it’s almost as if before it was surreal and now it was becoming real.

You definitely may deal with deaths in your family differently but I certainly like to remember the good times and celebrate the life which was led instead of dwelling on the negative that now it is all over.

My grandpa was a Christian and I believe he ended up in heaven but of course there’s no way to know for sure until I ascend to the next plane.

I definitely recommend you take a few days to reflect upon the life of your lost loved ones.

Unfortunately, for me this reflection time revealed one glaring regret that I will have with me for the rest of my days. And that regret is I didn’t go by to see grandpa in the last two months since he had gotten out of the hospital.

I neglected that because I fool heartedly believed there was plenty of time and always another day. As it turned out last Tuesday the foolishness of my belief became real.

It’s always a shock when you hear the words, you get that phone call, or that ominous knock comes to your front door. You sense it’s bad but you’re powerless to stop it.

After getting the call one thing I immediately remembered were the trips I took with him. Going to his old naval reunions where his buddies swap war stories of World War II, and the nature trips out to the Texas hill country to feed apples to white tailed deer.

One time at the Lyndon B. Johnson Ranch I cut open a green apple and held it in my hand and a 10 point buck came right up to the fence. I was able to put my arm around its neck as it ate the apple right out of my hand.

This is quite unusual because normally white tailed deer are very skittish and don’t come around humans. My grandpa was of course right there with camera in hand snapping shots of this great event.

This memory of mine may not mean much to you but I’m sure you have memories of your own personal experiences with loved ones who are important in your life and are now gone.

I urge you to take a moment right now and remember someone special to you who made a big impact in your life and is now no longer with us. It’s always good to honor those who’ve gone before and positively affected your life.

It certainly makes dealing with the loss easier.

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