DigiCait

This one is a long time coming. Forever grateful that I was able to be there for grandma while she was at the hospital (there’s no place I would have rather been) but so sad I couldn’t attend your funeral. I was hoping to hear the stories your old colleagues and friends told in your memory and mourn you with our family. I was even going to speak (with encouragement from grandma- well actually she more TOLD me to but she was correct in doing so as she always is). So here my (albeit brief) dedication to you. AND what I had hoped to say at your funeral.

Firstly, I had planned to share this story you wrote to me because it both fit the setting and included some of the best advice I have ever and most likely will ever receive.

I had then planned on saying something similar to the following:

My grandpa taught me so much about love, patience, humor, writing, fishing and having fun. He taught me that 7 times 13 equals 24, that a little dirt on your hands or knees or even your hair won’t hurt you (but it will upset your grandma), that life is too short to take yourself seriously and that family (and he had a broad definition of that word) means everything. The only way I can possibly thank him for everything he gave me is to try to live up to the person he both taught and thought me to be. And to live in the way that he did- with love.

A huge part of why I wanted to start writing this was to honor your incredible story telling legacy. Also to improve my own writing skills in the hopes that someday I can be even a fraction of the writer you were. Here’s to our memories and your memory. I love you.