Personal news...

[Elle Rush]

My Grandpa passed away late last night after a long battle with extended illness. He had been in the hospital for almost 7 weeks, and when there came a point when there was nothing more that they could do for him, the family decided to take Grandpa home to his final resting place.
He went home yesterday, he passed on just hours later.
I am in a state this morning... part of grief, part relief, and things that I just don't know how I feel yet.
This is a big loss for my family- my Grandpa was a strong man of great moral character. He was a stand-up kind of guy. He was always there for me.
The most difficult thing is that he leaves behind my Grandma, his wife of 63 years. The only man she has ever known. They fell in love when my Grandmother was just 13 years old! Married when she was 16.
Say a prayer or meditation for my family and I today. One can never have enough love and positive energy around them in times like these.

[AquarianM]

Rachelle, my sincerest condolences to you and your family. I only just today found this. Being the family poet, I would encourage you to help him live on through your poetry and writing. I know he will in family memories, but this is something somewhat special we as poets are gifted with. Write of him - and share it with your Grandmother once the grief is somewhat less tender.

Grandfathers,
They are treasures in this world,
Voices that stand in our view for lifetimes,
Writ large across my personal sky,
When I look to my ghosts for guidance,
Or seek momentary refuge in my distant youth,
He is the first there to greet me,
All my life this will go on and on...
I have written it in my heart's own stone.

With sincerest sympathy,

Dan Stafford

[Elle Rush]

That is a beautifully- written ode, Dan.
I have a couple of older pieces that I had written about him, I'll have to see if I can find them.
Thank you for your sympathies. He was a great man, beloved by everyone, missed so much already. But, you know what? I can feel him all around me, around my baby Noah, too... it's so surreal still, and hard to lose someone you love so much at the same time you are bringing life into the world. You know, at the hospital, he would most times reach out to touch my growing baby/belly... he was so sick that it is hard to imagine him thinking about the life inside of me, yet I know he was.