Damn.
On October 6, 2006, the McDougall family lost an anchor.
I was never as close to grandpa John as I wanted, distance and philosophy conspired to keep the status quo. Still, he was a man I couldn’t help but look up too.
I’m not a believer in Christian Science, but there was something that struck me. During his services, the speaker quoted from the Christian Science Manual. He said in essance, that we are not to be concerned with dates such as birth or death, because the body isn’t important. The soul is all that matters, and the soul is spirit, and spirit is timeless. I cannot believe this as fact, but there is an interesting timelessness to my memories of Grandad. To the day he died, I cannot picture my grandad aging (despite the pictures proving otherwise). He was always the same gentle, kind old man easily mistaken for 60—not the 83 he eventually attained. Memories all merge together; things that happened ten or even 20 years ago seem like yesterday.
Thank you grandpa for the memories, you will be missed.
