Ten years ago today my grandpa passed away. It was the first real close loss I’d experienced. Each year, right around this time, the days feel a little more intense. The air is a little sharper. The colors a little richer.
Here’s what I have learned. Loss is a great many things. But to me, most of all – it is an opportunity to take on an awesome responsibility. That responsibility is like taking the baton in a race. We take what you’ve handed to us and we push forward.
This is what I have learned. With absence there is the opportunity for presence. To fill what’s gone. With all the beauty of what has been.
This is what I have learned: The best memories are carried on in the weaving of new ones.
This is the picture I would talk to you about. I would talk about how I panicked every time I sent a story or a paper in to press. I bet we would have the best conversations about this. I could talk to you about the press all day long.
This is what I have learned: Learning is important. Learning is everything. I didn’t learn enough from you so I have made a point of learning for you. I learned a lot about your wife. She’s pretty awesome. And I learned we both like to write about food. I’d give anything to have tasted that pizza with onion and the coke that you had on the kibbutz that time.
This is what I have learned: To know when to be certain. I’m pretty certain you’d be pretty proud of me now. Filling up these last ten years with everything I learned from you.
Cheers, Grandpa.
