Life, love and passings

I don't plan on using this blog to post about my policital views. But suffice it to say, I am a Republican. Kind of a liberal one, but a Republican nonetheless. Either party viewpoint you have though, it was still sad to hear about Ted Kennedy losing his battle with brain cancer. It seems like there have been a lot of "celebrity" deaths lately. Farrah, MJ, Billy Mays, Ed McMahon. I know people die every day. Looking at the paper can tell you that much. But I don't know most of those people. Not that I knew any of those celebrities either. But I felt like I did. At least their public personas.

It's never easy to face the death of a loved one. It's something that I think about and worry about all the time because of my dad. Until my third year of law school, I was one of the few 24 year olds I knew who still had all 4 grands still alive. March of my third year, my mom's dad passed away. He was only in the hospital for a few weeks. I remember going to visit him the weekend before he died. I remember him telling me that he loved me. But most of all, I remember the AMAZING man he was. Generous to a fault, never knew an enemy, Bubba could talk to a brick wall and get its life story! Then, two months later, right during the middle of Bridge the Crap, my dad's mom died. She, on the other hand, had gone into advanced stages of dementia about a year prior to passing away. She didn't remember any of us by that point. But I do remember the last visit I had with her, when she still knew me. The nurse asked if Grammy knew who I was. She told the nurse I was her sweet, sweet girl. Something she'd always called me. I couldn't ever go to see her again. It was just too hard, which I know was very selfish of me. But I remember her for the spitfire she was. Opinionated, brilliant, she was definitely a woman to whom I would be proud to be compared. Two Marchs later, my dad's dad passed away. Too put it bluntly, he died of a broken heart. Once my grandmother passed away, Grampa just didn't have the heart to go on without her. She was the love of his life, the 10 years older than him woman who stole his heart over 50 years earlier. Grampa was my most romantic of the grands. He wrote his wife's name with a heart over the I, so in love was he. So within two short years, I went to the funerals of 3 grands. And each one was difficult.

Thinking about each of my grands who has passed away, I like to think there is a little piece of each of them that can be found in me. While I might not talk to a brick wall, I will talk to darn near anyone and definitely share a lot. Just like Bubba. I am BEYOND opinionated. And love a compliment. Just like Grammy. And I am completely the romantic that Grampa was. I wonder how much of them in me is genetics and how much is watching and admiring them.

It's been interesting to see how each grand dealt with the loss of their spouse. Dove, although she misses her husband of over 50 years dearly, is still keeping herself busy 7 years later. Grampa just couldn't do it. I've always thought that men really couldn't make it without women, especially when that woman is/was the love of their life. If they are young enough, they will remarry. They have to. Women can somehow keep going. Does that mean women really do need men like fish need bicycles? And that men need us more than even they want to admit?