Pop Pop

My grandfather had a heart attack and has been in a hospital bed since. He’s near the end now and soon he’ll be home, with his parents and friends that’ve passed in his lifetime. I stood around in a circle with my family today who came from everywhere dropping their lives for what could have been their last hours with Pop Pop.

My family is single-handedly the best family someone could ever want to be a part of. When we’re all together no matter what’s going on its a support system that works effortlessly and perfectly.

When Pop Pop leaves us he won’t ever be gone. Everyone will be taking something with them that they’ve had all along. See, Pop Pop was, and at the time I’m writing this, still is an amazing individual. He aided in one of the US Coast Guard’s most famous rescues, The Bermuda Sky Queen crash in 1947. He was also the first captain of USCGC Morgantheau, with a crew of “Just Made It’s.”. The Morgantheau is still out in the waters and we shared a moment of silence with the current crew this afternoon.

Pop Pop would pick me up from school most days of the week and back before he ever bought a Saturn I’d run out of class and look for his little orange puddle jumper or on special days “The Hi-Ho” named for the mining song of the seven dwarfs he had a sun shield featuring.

Camping, going to the arcade and the movies, the swap shop, getting to loot a selection of ten year old comic books he probably got for a dime each. It didn’t matter, I was doing things with my pop pop and my pop pop was my buddy.

I’m really going to miss him when he’s gone but I won’t ever be sad. I can’t be sad with so many happy memories.