Lavi byen viv (Life well lived)

This past month has been overwhelming. Death is never easy to process. Cholera death and my grandfather's death. There are many doorways of death... undignified death on wooden beds soaked in diarrhea in Haiti or sterile death on comfortable, movable hospital beds in North Carolina. Death is scary because we fear that we have not lived life on earth well. Every person dies, but not every person lives. My grandfather lived life well.

Robert Denver Miller, my grandfather, is one of my heroes. He is a pillar of our family. He left this earth on November 20th, a day after his 89th birthday. My husband and I were able this past month to return home from Haiti to honor the life of my grandfather. I have only good memories of my grandfather. I love this photograph with my grandfather because he and I were playing on the computer together, which happens to be one of his favorite hobbies. He was gentile, intelligent and good at everything he touched. The fruits of his life are apparent: from raising a family,testing mustard gasses during WWII, lover of nature, building parts of the Blue Ridge Parkway, to being a volunteer firefighter. His legacy lives deep in my family. He served others with his skills. In fact, I feel that he has inspired me and others in my family to be doing the very things we are doing currently. A life well lived on earth and now in heaven. Granddad, thank you for teaching me how to live, you are loved.