We miss you

As this scheduled post goes live at about 8am this Friday 15 October I am in the air flying home to spend the weekend with my family and also to be marking the very sad one year anniversary since my grandfather passed away.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  It was a Thursday night a year ago and I'd just come home from work when dad called me.  My grandmother called my dad and said that my grandfather wanted to speak to him as he felt like he was about to pass away.  Which he did while my dad was on the phone... he passed away at home, on the coach while watching Novak Djokovic play a tennis match!  Watching TV and reading books was his favourite thing to do since dad can remember.  He was a few months away from his 75th birthday.

He had never been sick, never spent a day in hospital, never taken any medication.  He'd lived a full life.  Always worked to live, not lived to work.  Always carefree, taking trips to Paris to visit his cousin every chance he got.  Spending his money on the things that made him happy, as he always said that it didn't matter, the next payday wasn't far away.  He was a bit of a free spirit who found it hard to commit to something... About 15 years my family lost everything and as we left for Australia, my grandparents, then in their 60's started again.  My grandfather worked, bought a farm and built an extension on the house.  He hated depending on anyone.  He shaved every day and demanded to wear a clean, crisply ironed shirt each morning.  He and my grandmother were married for 51 years, had 3 sons and 2 grandchildren.  He tried to hold on to see my brother who planned to visit in a few months after finishing school, but he didn't make it... He hadn't seen my brother since he was a little boy in 2001, but I was blessed to spend a long winter in 2005 with him and a few short summer days in 2008.  And of course the first 12 years of my life.  Going to their farm was the best part of being a kid - doing whatever I wanted... chasing chickens... and even riding on the donkey because I was tired while my grandparents carried the wood for the fire on their backs!

3 generations - myself, dad & djed in 1985

My grandparents in 2008.  He didn't have a grey hair in sight but the lines on his face told a million stories.  I don't fear aging if I can age like that!