A Life in Love – My Tribute to Grandma

This piece is my eulogy for Grandma, delivered at her funeral on 8 August 2020.  The pictures throughout are family photos and the featured image, as with many of the pictures within, came from one of our many Friday night dinners at Grandma’s.

Grandma first asked me to write her eulogy ten or fifteen years ago.  Every year or two she’d circle back around to the request, double checking I remembered I said I’d do this and making sure I was still planning on it.  I always assured her I did and I would.  But even for me, someone who writes a lot for fun and is kinda paid to talk for a living, this is intimidating.  How do I begin to pay tribute to Grandma?  How do I begin to capture all she means to me?

Mourning, Healing, and Bruce Springsteen

Last Tuesday, my grandfather died.  He wasn’t sick for any length of time nor was he a sickly man by nature.  He was in the hospital for just under two weeks when he passed away so it was certainly a shock to all of us.  Such a sudden death is never easy for the family but, relatively speaking, it was certainly a blessing for Grandpa.  As the dual waves of reality and sadness washed over me, I did what I always do in times of great mourning and pain.  I sought solace in the comfort of family, friends, prayer, memories…and Bruce Springsteen’s 2002 album The Rising.