Bruce McGarrah

My Grandpa McGarrah died this morning.  He was 96, and he had trouble breathing last night, so it wasn't totally unexpected.  Honestly, I am surprised how much this is affecting me, a mix of missing him and regretting all the ways I should have been a better granddaughter.

He lived with us for ten years, then moved into a nursing home when we couldn't take care of him because of his frequent falls.  He lived just two miles from our house for the next four or five years, but I only visited with family on big occasions.

I'm glad we visited him last Sunday to celebrate his 96th birthday.  It was nice outside, so we took him around the sidewalks in his wheelchair.  He loved being outside, and I held his hand the entire time.  He was a lot more affectionate in recent years than ever before, and on Sunday I started thinking that we should visit him more frequently and take him outside since it's turning into spring.

I never knew him very well.  He was old before I was born.

Roy called today, and it was the first time I really understood what it means to be siblings.  Roy lived through everything I've lived through.  He has my memories, and he understands how I am, because the same life experiences created us both.  And we're together, for as long as we live, in a way.  He is the one who I will talk to on days like this.  Someday our parents will die, and it will be the two of us planning and continuing on together.

The McGarrah line is crazy small.  There are now only three people with our family blood--Dad, Roy, and me.  I guess Roy will have to procreate like crazy.  Though we're on our way to continuing the McGarrah tradition by not having kids until we're in our thirties.

One thing I didn't know about Grandpa McGarrah until recently is that he loved to travel.  When I told him I was going to Senegal, he jokingly asked if he could go with me.  He went on a lot of trips that I never heard about until this past December.

It's kind of cool that Roy and I both inherited wanderlust without even realizing it's in our blood.  It is nice to think that there's a part of Grandpa McGarrah in me.