My wonderful grandad.

When I think of my Grandad my first thoughts are of him being a big part of my childhood and being responsible for so many of the happy memories I have.

Every year he and my nan would take my cousin and I camping for a week. We felt like we were travelling the world, mostly because he never drove more than 50mph in his Skoda pulling his trailer tent. Every journey seemed to take hours but we didn't mind as we used the time to plan how we'd save the planet, reduce electricity consumption, decide what we'd be when we grew up and mainly solve the worlds problems. Like you do when you're 10. We'd then have a ball for the week visiting wonderful gardens, William Shakespeare's house and eating far more sweets than we'd ever be allowed to at home. 

Even all these years later as my Grandad retold the stories that we had all heard and experienced first hand, he always said those were the best memories of his life and I always believed him. With us having moved when I was 11 down to Littlehampton and him still living in London we didn't see each other as much as we once had. 

Fast forward to 6 years ago, the morning of my birthday and four months before my wedding. I took a call from my mum to say my Grandad had been driving home from visiting us, his lungs had collapsed and he'd had a heart attack. He was in hospital for 3 months fighting as he didn't want to miss my wedding. Having him there on the 30th June 2007 made the day even more special for me. 

When I had Nathan my Grandad was so happy. We made the decision to move them both down here to be closer to us and to give them a better quality of life. They moved down two years ago and for the first year my Grandad was on cloud nine. I had Ethan and he loved being able to spend time with them often saying they'd lift him up when he felt down. The last six months however had seen a constant bout of infections, kidney failure COPD and limited heart function. 

Ironically Kenny told me to give him a call on Monday and I'm so glad I did. I told him I'd brought the boys the trampoline we'd discussed and he was glad as he didn't want them to miss the good weather that might come soon. When I ended the call I said to my mum how down he sounded. 

My mum called yesterday at 6pm to say my Grandad had had the Paramedics to his warden assisted flat, they had resuscitated him and he was on his way to hospital. 

Luckily for me I live opposite so went straight over and sat with my Nan. Without going into too many details his body had just had enough, there was also a high chance of brain damage as it took do long to bring him back at the flat. They needed to take him off the ventilator and they gave him and hour. We made calls to family members and they started to descend. My nan, mum, sister and I each went in to see him before they took him off of the machines and said our goodbyes. I thanked him for my memories and for sticking around to see my boys for a bit. I told him to rest now and say hi to my great gran for me. I said sorry for taking the mickey when he told me a story he'd told me twenty times before. Most importantly though I told him I loved him. 

Now as I write this and think of my Grandad I think of how much he loved his family. How much he loved my nan and of his loud laugh which led to his big cough. I think of the fun we had camping and how he always let me help cook. And I think how much my nan loves him and how we have to look after her now. My Grandad is all she's ever known and I worry for her. 

I'll leave you with this picture of my Grandad. This is how I choose to remember him. Not how I saw him last night. My heart is heavy and I'm sobbing but I love you Grandad. Goodnight and god bless. 

Love always 

Your Lisa, Kenny and your beautiful great grandchildren Nathan and Ethan. 

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