Shan, Eli and I just returned from an unexpected road trip to Toledo, where we attended the memorial service for Shan's uncle's parents. Shan grew up calling them Grandpa and Grandma, even though they weren't technically her grandpa and grandma.

The memorial service was everything a memorial should be: painful, joyful, reverent, funny, honest, heartbreaking, and healing.

Many things could be said, and many things were said. I really only knew them through stories, I only met them a couple of times. The most inspiring was this: That through the 20 years that Grandma Kohn suffered from Alzheimer's, the only person she didn't forget was Grandpa Kohn. Grandpa Kohn put his life on hold to take care of her, because he didn't want his wife in a nursing home. So close and so devoted were they, that when Grandpa died, less than 48 hours later, Grandma followed him.

I can think of few more beautiful examples of Love.


wingnut