MCB 1942-2023

This post covers an ending of one era and a beginning of another.

In Spring of 2022, my sister visited my parents. In our debrief she gave me stern instructions: Don’t wait until Thanksgiving to visit. Dad’s health is not good.

I called home and confronted my dad.

Amy says you are not going to live until Thanksgiving.

My father replied,

Oh, no, I am going to live until 2023.

And he did.
He died on June 3.

He was really hoping to make it to Grandson 1’s wedding. That wedding is this week. And we will raise a glass to Grandpa as we celebrate the new Mr. and Mrs. Kornish.

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Grandpa requested that all his grandchildren speak at his celebration of life. We weren’t able to swing all the requests (e.g., we did not have bagpipes), but speaking we could do.

Grandson 1 opened with a nerdy joke that Grandpa had told him.

A photon walks into a hotel. The bellboy says, ‘Welcome in, sir. Can we bring any bags up to your room?’

The photon says, ‘No, no. I’m traveling light.’

And ended with

I learned from Grandpa Michael that where you go and who you go with are far more important than what you take back. In the end, we are all traveling light.

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As I said in my remarks,

His legacies for me are his storytelling, sentimentality, and straight-shooting. I can’t miss those because they are present for me every day. He doesn’t feel gone to me because there is so much about me that reflects him.

The comments by his alter egos live on on this blog: Larry Boyd and Professor Newton. He also commented as himself, in the posts 1986 and The Luckiest Men Alive.

Grandson 1 correctly noted in his remarks that with our loss of Grandpa, he and DH are now competing for the title of The Luckiest Man Alive. To quote Larry Boyd, “Amen.” Godspeed, New Mrs. Kornish!