I Suck At Hanging Out With Grandparents

Today is a sad day, and not because news has come out that Warner Bros is rebooting Buffy the Vampire Slayer without creator Joss Whedon or any of the original cast members from the beloved television show. Say the news isn't so!

Although I must say, I did get a chuckle from reading Whedon's response:

"This is a sad, sad reflection on our times, when people must feed off the carcasses of beloved stories from their youths — just because they can't think of an original idea of their own, like I did with my Avengers idea that I made up myself."

Anyway, Karen's grandfather passed away today. It has actually been somewhat of a strange day in general, Buffy news aside. It was only nine days ago that Karen and I took our baby daughter (Briana) to visit her grandparents.

It's too bad I suck at hanging out with grandparents. They say hindsight is 20/20. If someone were to tell me that Karen's grandfather would pass away nine days from that last visit, I probably would have taken Briana to their house every day. After all, Karen's grandparents were all excited and filled with joy over seeing Briana.

It's a shame that Briana, at eight months, will probably never really remember her great grandfather because he did love her so. He used to refer to Briana as "he". Whether that was intentional or not, I'm not sure because he knew he was doing it. But you could tell from the way he rocked Briana in her car seat with his foot, to how he would hold her, that he did have a great time with Briana.

Karen's grandfather did appear to be doing well this past Saturday when Karen had visited him in the hospital. It is amazing how quickly things can change in a matter of days or hours or minutes. I remember thinking that as well when Karen and I lost our son (Braden). For anyone curious, Braden was lucky enough to have been visited by Karen's grandparents before his passing.

Life can be an emotional roller coaster at times. For me, the experience of losing Braden has led me to cherish more the things that I currently have... like friends and family... as opposed to the material things that I want. I feel that the passing of Karen's grandfather only reinforces my feelings about the importance of family and friends.

Anyway, Karen's grandfather had a goal of reaching 100 years of age. Sadly, he did not accomplish that goal. I think he was a little over 2 years short of 100. Regardless, he lived a long full life. He lived through the depression. He served in the second World War. He had a lot of great and interesting stories to tell, especially about the war.

To say that his death was sudden does seem somewhat peculiar because he was, after all, 97. Nevertheless, I was somewhat surprised to find out that he passed away in those 9 days since our last visit. I am blessed to have known Karen's grandfather. He was a good man. I'm sure he will be telling Braden all about his little sister, Briana.