Unhappy circumstances breed happy memories

My grandfather passed away in July of 2020. Not of COVID, but of COPD which he developed after years of smoking. In 2019 his condition started to decline and the doctors took out a piece of his lung which they thought was cancerous.

My mother's father had lived with us on and off since I was young. He came to live with us again almost 7 years ago. The house has three rooms and one stand alone room in the backyard.

When he came to us he stayed in the stand alone room. He was barely in his 60s and still wanted independence. He got it.

In 2020 when my grandfather became more dependent on oxygen tanks, I switched rooms with him. His independence quickly declined.

Today when I go into the room, it no longer feels like mine. He was there only a few months and it became his room so quickly.

I was never that close to my grandfather and unfortunately, because of his sickness, he did not often show his best self.

At the end of his life, his four daughters came together in the home and looked after him 24 hours a day for 10 days until he passed in his sleep with a Rosary in his hand after spending near his entire life as a Jehova's Witness.

A month after he passed, we took his cremains to Mexico, and attended a mass in his honor. This is the first time in years that my family has been able to go to Mexico together since I was in high school.

Here are some photos of our one-day long 'vacation' in the middle of COVID and a day before my grandfather's funeral mass.