For Posterity

A few months ago, at my grandmother's wake, I commented that my sister and I would be lucky to marry a man as good as my grandfather. There are many reasons for this and today I'll talk about a few.

With my grandfather, you knew what you were getting. There with things he believed and he believed them un-waiveringly. These things ranged from the mundane - his belief that a key to a long life was to NOT drink a lot of water and his feelings about the yankees v. the mets, which I understand to be vaguely related to the Brooklyn Dodgers moving to LA - to the serious.

My grandfather was a man of faith, he believed in the Church and among other things, he was part of [his parish] from the beginning.

My grandfather was also a true family man. If he knew you, he likely knew your birthday, and if you were married your anniversary, and if there was a major snow storm on either of those dates, he knew that as well. And it never ceased to amaze me how, after meeting Melinda, the chiropractor, or one of the home health aides or any of the guys from the neighborhood, they would know all about my brother, my sister and myself.

Of course, you can't talk about Mike without Millie. My grandfather's devotion to my grandmother, especially in the end, defies words.

Recently, I was driving my grandfather away from the nursing home, when he told me that he was reading the Bible. My grandfather was a cradle Catholic and a prolific reader so it surprised me that he hadn't read the bible. He told me that he knew most of the gospels but had never gotten to the part where they tell you what happens when you get to heaven. I told him that I didn't think the bible went into that much detail. He told me to think about all the people that have gone before us and asked me how you would find who you were looking for.

After 90 years, I'm sure that there are a lot of people my grandfather is looking for in Heaven, but we all know that he was worried about finding my grandmother.

I'm sure that my grandmother has spent the time since her arrival in heaven exclusively worrying about my grandfather here, among other things, the quantity and quality of the food has been lacking, and preparing for his arrival there. If there is food in heaven, my grandmother has been cooking it, if not, she has made the appropriate preparations and found him when he arrived. She likely made a comment about how long it took him to get there.

My grandfather's last days came quickly and went too fast. I can't really belief he is gone and I miss them both, but I am comforted knowing that they are now together forever.