To My Grandad

This post isn’t related to books, but instead to something much more personal to me.

On August 19th 2017, my Grandad sadly passed away after 14 months of suffering with heart disease. He was a fighter right until the end, shocking the doctors and nurses with how long he stayed with us, and considering they gave him until September 2016 and he went another 11 months, I have to agree with them.

Despite his serious illness, he still managed to keep a smile on his face and everyone around him laughing at his somewhat weird and wonderful sense of humour.

I will always keep in mind the advice he gave me shortly before he died… “whatever you want in life, you can achieve it with hard work. Go get it, Ginge.”

Today, we said goodbye to him one last time at his funeral, and I wanted to share with you all the poem that I read out.

He Is Gone by David Harkins

You can shed tears that he is gone.

Or you can smile because he lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that he will come back.

Or you can open your eyes and see all that he has left.

Your heart can be empty because you can’t see him.

Or you can be full of the love that you shared,

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live for yesterday,

Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember him and only that he is gone.

Or you can cherish his memory and let it live on,

You can cry, close your mind, be empty, and turn your back.

Or you can do what he would have wanted, smile, open your eyes, love and move on.

-Books&Belle xx