Dear Opa,

Thank you for everything you have taught me and all the great times we have shared to this point; I can’t wait for more. From vacations together, to cookouts, to boat rides, to the family Christmas Dinners at your house, I can never thank you enough or let you know how much these times have truly meant to me. You are the only guy I know that can be taking the last bite of breakfast and asking what we are going to do for lunch. For every cookout you always have everything we need-all the plates, utensils, napkins, a tablecloth for the picnic table (and definitely we have to use your 1970s tupperware salt and pepper shakers), and you remain the ultimate “Grill Master”. You have always been strong but sweet, able to discipline yet always up for fun. You have always encouraged us to work hard, have fun and be nice to other people. You are a strong role model for each of those things you encourage in us.

Thank you for encouraging me to get my boating license, and being insistent that my sister and I know how to drive the boat as well as how to get it back in the slip, tie it up and put the canvas on right. Thanks for always encouraging us to learn how to be independent, through just sitting back and letting us figure things out, but still being available to help if we really need it.

Thank you for the trips we have taken together, to Florida and Alaska. Thank you for the funny memories like when your body was still on NY time and you woke up at 2 am in Alaska and got ready for breakfast without looking at the clock. It’s always fun being around you; I appreciate that we can have a serious talk or a bunch of laughs. Thank you for always knowing the “back story” on any new person I meet, and giving advice on what to watch for. Thank you for accepting my friends and boyfriend, and letting them call you Opa, because they know how cool you are and want to be that close to you too. Thank you for being that same loving, giving person to everyone you meet. And for always being honest.

For these reasons and so many more, I love you and I am so lucky to call you MY Opa, and that’s why it is so hard right now to have you in the hospital knowing you have to do the hardest part to get better. I wish I could turn back time a week, but know what was missed when you were getting discharged from the hospital the first time, so maybe you would have stayed a little longer then but not had to go back in 2 days later.

Now it’s our time to be strong for you, like you have always been for us. And I can’t wait until we can look back on this, at Christmas Dinner in a few months, and realize how this “bump in the road” made us stronger and closer as a family. Thank you for being you.