Can I share an excerpt from the piece I wrote you Gramps?

I think of love. Unconditional love. Love in its purest, most beautiful form. Biblical love. Love as God intended love to be. And in the same trail of thought I think of a man who let me see beyond his beautiful. He did make it out of that (death) bed. We did converse somewhat over Christmas and for many months after that in fact. But he was different. When I conversed with him, he was stripped off his boisterousness, there was no loud verbose banter, but for the occasional twinkle in his eye, there was hardly mischief making. He spoke with his eyes. What did he say?

 

‘This is beneath my beautiful, this is beneath my perfect. This is me, stripped bare of everything that I clothe myself with. This is me vulnerable before your eyes. This is me reverting to naught but the mortal soul that I am. This is me imperfect but from the depths of my heart, this is me smiling at you because I know I am in safe hands. I also know that I have imparted knowledge. We are one oak tree and I am the root. Other roots have been formed off me. There are stems and branches and leaves and buds and flowers of some sort. Everyone in their uniqueness has taken a bit of me and formed their own individuality. When you sit in that pew, all 7 children, 30 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren of mine will shed tears of overwhelming emotion – because I have stripped bare before you -  beneath my beautiful, beneath my perfect so that I can teach you love. Love as God intended love to be. My work is done’

 

I sit on this bench and I listen. The cold wind continues to blow against my cheek, but this time I hear it whistling louder and stronger, with choking melancholy. look up to the sky. The clouds have formed an image. Grandpa is boisterous once more. Grandpa is smiling...smiling down   

Sally

13/11/12

RIP Grandpa. Your legacy is imperishable!