The Current Iconoclast: Iconoclast Mourn: Almost two months since my grandfather passed, but his sense of humor still lives on in me!

My Grandpa and I

My last grandfather (my mothers father) passed almost two months ago. He was 88. It is a funny thing when loved ones pass, you think the world should stop, as it seems to have for you as well in that moment. However the world keeps turning and you amongst others related to you are left to suffer the harshest reality in life, death.

His passing wasn't unexpected, but it came much quicker than we all had thought. I will say that I am open to the idea of the paranormal. I can't deny this, as the time my grandfather passed his sister who lives eight hours away from him, felt a cold chill go through her as she was laying down for a rest. She had a feeling something had happened, and that she should call my mother. Something did happen, and I don't think she was imagining that experience. As well as my mother has said that she has since felt a hand pat her on her shoulders as he used to do. There is no denying whether it was his ghost/spirit or a psychic connection tethered by genetics/ the brain that we have yet to understand, I know he was there for them.

After the initial grieving process, today I can write about the sense of humor my grandfather had. I remember especially in the last ten or so years of his life that he always had a joke to say, or a one liner as he walked from his kitchen back into his bedroom. I don't think he ever grasped how funny he was or how much his life mattered to everyone. I did manage to write him a letter telling him all that I wanted to and knew that he needed to, a couple months before he passed. My mother said it made him feel good about himself. I have no regrets as I may have when my Dad's folks passed, but I was only a teen when his father passed, and twenty-one when his mother passed, but she suffered from dementia and didn't know who anyone was. I hope they know how I felt about them.

Below is a scan of a comedic response to property taxes in the city that he lived. I always thought this was hilarious, picturing an 80 year old man , my grandfather doing the things that he wrote and got published in his cities weekly paper.

This is how I will remember him. His sense of humor, that will course through my veins till the end.

This clip I shot in 2004. My Grandpa never liked to be filmed. I picked it, because it was a clip where he smiles, laughs, and speaks my name. There is something about hearing his voice, and seeing him in his home again. It makes you feel that he is alive again, and at the very least alive within you.