A Long Life

It seems this is my go-to place for crises events. And my purpose for writing this post is no different. Perhaps I am in shock but I feel at peace regarding the passing of my friend and grandfather, Glen William Michael. A quick Google search pulls up his address in the country where he was not able to live for some time. He has spent the last several years in the nursing home. He has been enduring recovery from some type of a hip surgery (some type means he didn't have his full hip replaced). Three or four weeks ago, he started this fight for recovery. He hit a few hard spots in the road and with a fight against UTI and his kidneys (allegedly), without knowing the official cause of his death, he passed away today, Thursday, July 30th, 2020 at 2:00pm, or somewhere around there. I always figured that as long as he and my lifelong pastor, Jim Christy, were around, I could endure life in this cold cruel world and now I have lost one of my lifelines (my Grandma Eva Michael was one of those but she passed away some time ago, in the early 2000s, perhaps around 2002). One of my friends told me to write him a letter (I never got around to that since I was told he wasn't able to read and had lost his recognition of people he saw frequently, let alone someone like me who was only able to visit him once every few years as a result of living abroad) and tell him my three favorite memories about him. That is just two hard to do. So instead, I think I'll spend the coming days writing a memory a day. I'll also post a link to his obituary when that comes out. For now, I'm going to start with three memories that come to mind. 1. He did a headstand when I was a kid which impressed me because even in his fifties or sixties he was better at it than me. 2. His walk. There was something graceful about his walk. With knee problems which he said went back to his football days in college, he was a bit of a slow walker but he surpassed me when I was recovering from my second surgery where I was treated for a ruptured appendicitis. 3. Devotions with Grandma and Grandpa. This is the most meaningful memory I have because Grandma and Grandpa Michael let me into their most personal space, their spiritual life. We would read the bible and "Our Daily Bread" and then we'd each say a prayer. Grandma's prayer was pretty routine and reverent, praying for all of their three kids and their families. I think she would start with something like, "We thank thee our heavenly Father..." I don't remember how Grandpa would start but I remember he would always use King James English which I loved to hear because it reminded me of how high above us God is and how much Grandpa feared (aka respected) God. I know we have lots of speculations and so-called experiences of the after-life. I'm not going to be presumptuous but I'm going to follow the advice of one of my philosophy professors who said, "We entrust our loved ones to our heavenly father" and so I give my beloved Grandpa Michael to God Almighty, who knows how much Grandpa feared and loved/fears and loves God.