My grandfather's eulogy:
This is what I put together for Opa's eulogy. And no, I couldn't make it through without breaking down. (My grandfather was known as Opa, since my older brother was born in Germany, where my father was stationed at the time.)
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It's funny what goes through your head when you start thinking about writing a memorial for someone who has been so important to your life. In my case, I didn't remember stories as much as I remembered moments of time, frozen in my memory like photographs.
Moment: I'm 7 years old, on a lazy Sunday morning. I'm diving into the bed to read the funny pages with Omi and Opa, Sara right beside me. We had to move quickly - the dog, Nikki, would lick our toes if we weren't careful. The smell of coffee filled the house. To this day, that smell remains forever associated in my mind with those lazy funny pages mornings.
Moment: It's Christmas morning - most any year, really. A bright frilly ribbon is affixed to Opa's bald head. An expression of sublime innocence is on his face, as if he hadn't even noticed it was there; as if he hadn't put it there himself. But the glint in his eyes gives him away.
Moment: Opa's arms wrapped around me, his deep reverberating chuckle echoing through me even as his hug warms me: a compassionate, loving, genuine hug.
There are more moments like this in my mind, showing his compassion, his humor, his wit and intelligence, talks about students, teaching, politics, history. It's these moments that come to me, not stories and tales. Opa has long been a quiet, yet central, part of my life: a foundation that provided so much that I don't think that I ever fully recognized the incredible depth of it.
My grandfather and I spoke of teaching often. It was Omi and Opa who inspired me to go along the same path they did, entering the field of education, so we've often discussed the philosophy of teaching. He and I agreed that, by changing one person's life for the better, you change the world. As a teacher, he changed the lives of many... and those changes he set in motion continue, even without him here with us. He touched the lives of everyone here, and this means he will forever remain a part of each of us.
It is the moments we've lost. That's what I will miss. But his heart... his love... his lessons. These will never leave us.
__________________
It's funny what goes through your head when you start thinking about writing a memorial for someone who has been so important to your life. In my case, I didn't remember stories as much as I remembered moments of time, frozen in my memory like photographs.
Moment: I'm 7 years old, on a lazy Sunday morning. I'm diving into the bed to read the funny pages with Omi and Opa, Sara right beside me. We had to move quickly - the dog, Nikki, would lick our toes if we weren't careful. The smell of coffee filled the house. To this day, that smell remains forever associated in my mind with those lazy funny pages mornings.
Moment: It's Christmas morning - most any year, really. A bright frilly ribbon is affixed to Opa's bald head. An expression of sublime innocence is on his face, as if he hadn't even noticed it was there; as if he hadn't put it there himself. But the glint in his eyes gives him away.
Moment: Opa's arms wrapped around me, his deep reverberating chuckle echoing through me even as his hug warms me: a compassionate, loving, genuine hug.
There are more moments like this in my mind, showing his compassion, his humor, his wit and intelligence, talks about students, teaching, politics, history. It's these moments that come to me, not stories and tales. Opa has long been a quiet, yet central, part of my life: a foundation that provided so much that I don't think that I ever fully recognized the incredible depth of it.
My grandfather and I spoke of teaching often. It was Omi and Opa who inspired me to go along the same path they did, entering the field of education, so we've often discussed the philosophy of teaching. He and I agreed that, by changing one person's life for the better, you change the world. As a teacher, he changed the lives of many... and those changes he set in motion continue, even without him here with us. He touched the lives of everyone here, and this means he will forever remain a part of each of us.
It is the moments we've lost. That's what I will miss. But his heart... his love... his lessons. These will never leave us.