If my grandpa was still with us today, he would have been celebrating his 103 years birthday. Ever since he died, I think of all the things I didn’t ask him when I still had a chance. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing to complain about, we were very close my grandpa and I, we watched basketball together, he told me a lot about his early life, he made me the best French fries and grilled cheese sandwiches I have even had, and I am genuinely grateful that I was blessed to spend meaningful time with him while I still had a chance. But still, there isn’t a week that I don’t think of something that I would have loved to know about him, to know him a bit better. I know so much and yet so little.
I try to figure out why I didn’t ask him all the questions that I have in mind now, back then when we had enough time to talk while we were sitting after dinner each Friday night. The first thing that I can think of is that we didn’t have the right settings. We used to move from the kitchen to the living room where the TV was on, and we got distracted. I believe it also felt awkward to ask questions out of the blue, without a talk that led to the situation naturally. Moreover, I must admit that back then during silent moments I got uncomfortable and couldn’t think of anything to ask or say. And once again, there was the TV. It is so much easier to watch other people talking than do the talking ourselves. He used to complain that the TV was on and that we look at it instead of each other. Now I understand why.
We are surrounded by amazing people, let’s try to get to know them better.
Happy birthday grandpa, I wish I would have had another chance to get to know you better.
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