I woke up this morning thinking about my grandpa, wondering when my dad would call to let me know what the status of his health was.  Dad texted me last night saying that Grandpa wasn’t doing well and that the hospice folks thought he’d die soon, but then said, “of course, my dad has 45 lives so we’ll see.”  I wrote back saying I’d come home today after baby gym in the morning, so that maybe Matthew would nap on the way back.  Dad said to hold off until he called me in the morning, and then asked about the dates for our trip to Florida.  When I told him the dates, he wrote back saying that there could be a funeral when we were gone.  That alarmed me… my dad doesn’t ever think the end is really coming.

The end came this morning.  It’s an amazing story – one that I just cannot believe happened to my grandpa.  My dad went up last night to visit him, held his hand, and then kissed him on the forehead before heading out.  My grandpa had been sort-of comatose, but woke up when my dad kissed him and smiled at him, knowing he was there.  My dad told him he loved him, and Grandpa told him he loved him too.  My dad left for the night and went home, updated all of us, and (as he told me this morning), cried off and on through the night.  This morning, on his way home from the dentist, my dad decided to stop by rather than just call for an update.  He popped in, asked the front desk how Grandpa was doing, and they pulled him aside to say that the end was very near.  They brought my dad a cup of coffee and he sat with his sleeping father, holding his hand, and he slipped away.  Just like that.  He just stopped breathing and died in his sleep.  Within 10 minutes of my dad arriving.

FATE.

I wish everyone we love could go that way.

I was very close to my grandpa, and I always feared this day.  I always feared how I would handle it.

B is out-of-town, so I texted him and he called me right away.  I cried when he called, but then I felt really good about the whole thing.  My grandpa missed my grandma so much, and just wanted to be with her.  From the day she died, he’s told me that he is ready to go be with her and just wants to die in his sleep.

He is with her now, and he died in his sleep.  And better yet, he died with his son at his side.

I am at peace with it.  I am at peace knowing that he is where he wants to be, a place that he has always believed in, that he passed so peacefully, and that he’s reunited with the love of his life.

I hope we can all be so lucky one day.