2 weeks before his death a few months ago my aunt helped him get into a Skype video chat with me that I did not expect but am eternally grateful to have answered.
It just happened to be a night I was spending in a hotel with my Japanese fiancé in London, and I am extremely proud that she got to “meet†him over video chat. He assured us that if he was younger, he would be over visiting us in the next room, and I damn-well believe him. He died 2 weeks later.
He was an awesome grandpa who had such an amazing positive outlook on every tiny thing. I was inspired just in how he did yard work, let alone everything else. He was so obviously dedicated to my grandmother that it really set an example for me. I know what true love is because of him. I know how to treat women because of him.
This happy person you see in the interview is how he really was all the time. I have literally never seen anything but a smile on his face.
This is a guy who had absolutely no regrets. He didn’t just live life, he defined it in many cases.
I am so grateful to have gotten another dose of his laughter 2 weeks before he died. Being overseas I have missed many funerals, and it’s taken its toll. But he lifted so much weight with our last contact, smiling and laughing as always.
L. Spiro