Not long after I returned to the US in July 2021, I whizzed out to see my grandparents in NY State. It had been nearly three years since I’d seen them on my last visit to the US, during which my grandmother cooked an early Thanksgiving dinner for me in 2018.
My grandparents are amazing people. They fostered approximately 20 babies in their younger years. My grandfather was employed in a local newspaper for 35 years, was an elected official, and organized chapters of non-profits. They both volunteered with various charities for decades, particularly after retirement.
If you needed a hand, they were there — no questions asked. After teaching one year in South Florida in my first year after college, my retired grandparents drove down in their pickup truck and moved me back up to New York. They would have been about 64 at the time. Until seven years ago into their 80s, they were even babysitting local children 40 hours a week. Their energy was boundless!
A few weeks ago, my grandfather passed away suddenly after a somewhat protracted struggle with dementia. I am so very grateful I could see my grandfather this one last time in late August 2021, when he was still functioning at a much higher level.
Above is a slideshow of pictures of my grandfather’s life from childhood to the present, including a few video clips of him during my visit in August. When he was in high school, he knocked a front tooth out playing hockey and had an artificial plate for the rest of his life. (That’s the inside story you need to understand the first video.)
At one point in the second video, when I ask my grandfather how many grandchildren he has (and he provides a correct answer), you can see that we are dining in a local restaurant, which has been a favorite in our family for at least 40 years.
89 year olds eating in a restaurant in NY State at the height of the Delta wave. Imagine that!
I share this to illustrate the poignant reality that if my grandparents had allowed various public health officials suffering from Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy to dictate their lives, my visit and these precious attendant memories might have been impossible.
Three years ago during our early Thanksgiving my grandparents and I sat down after dinner and they turned on the local news. At one point during the newscast — not the commercial break — my grandfather suddenly pressed the mute button on the remote. I looked over with mild surprise.
He smiled and said, “I turned the voice down because those are just politicians.”
For two years, we have been inundated with incessant hysteria and demonizing rhetoric regarding the “granny killers” — loosely defined as anyone who dares to deviate from arbitrary, one-size-fits-all public health protocols. Turns out that the real threat was the Canadian Mounties this past week.
As long as I live, I will never let any government dictate when, where, or how I am allowed to see the people I love.
And I hope you won’t, either.
A Tribute to my Wise Grandfather