Not long after I arrived at his hospital bedside in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Saturday night, my father looked me in the eye and, clasping my hand firmly, said, “All’s well that ends well.”
I replied with encouragement and hope. Things weren’t necessarily ending, I told him. He just needed to fight off the infection that had landed him in the emergency room the previous night. Doctors had loaded him up with antibiotics, and my sister and I were optimistic that he’d bounce back — as he had before — and we’d have him home in a few days.
My wife and I had just left him Tuesday morning after a five-day, post-holiday visit to my hometown. He’d been unsteady on his feet and a little weaker than usual, but he was lucid and conversational, as he was during our daily phone calls. The news several days later that he’d been experiencing hallucinations was alarming, and when he failed to improve overnight into Saturday, my sister texted a recommendation that I come over right away.
I knew that my dad was ready to go. We’d had many end-of-life conversations in the last few years. He expressed a great fear of being confined to a bed for his final months, as his own mother was before she died in 1996.
During that post-holiday visit, as we sat around the dinner table for hours, as we did so often, he said, “If there were a switch I could flip and die in 48 hours, I’d flip that switch.”
He knew he’d had a great run. He was born in Halle, Germany, in 1931, immigrated to the United States in 1934 when his parents were fleeing Hitler, and met the girl he would marry when he attended high school in Bloomington, Indiana. They married after he returned from nearly four years in the Navy, and I was born four years after that while he was in graduate school at Yale.
But at 94, just living had gotten tough for him. His mobility had grown increasingly limited as a constellation of maladies — diabetes, hypertension and congestive heart failure among them — had turned nearly every activity into an ordeal. He also experienced the stress of living with my mom, whose dementia had robbed her of language. Understandably, he was showing signs of resignation and depression.
When we left him on Tuesday morning a week ago, he was alert, and I had normal phone calls with him later that day and on Wednesday and Thursday.
But on Friday, my dad began hallucinating, telling one of the caregivers that there was a flood in the kitchen — there wasn’t — and that a longtime friend and colleague from Washington state was in the house for a visit — he wasn’t.
At 8:30 p.m., the ambulance arrived. Fifty-three hours later, he was dead.
“If there were a switch I could flip and die in 48 hours, I’d flip that switch.”
Close enough.
“All’s well that ends well.”
Again, close enough.
His ending, like most endings, was rough. Fluid built up in his lungs as he failed to fight off an infection that had spread from his bladder to his kidneys and his brain. His breathing became labored. Sunday evening, we accepted the physician assistant’s recommendation that we switch to palliative care — morphine to ease the struggle and pain of trying to breathe.
I played the guitar and sang to him the old songs we sang together at every visit. Southern gospel, country, folk classics. I hoped the music and all the precious memories associated with it were easing his passage, but I never saw a sign of that. There was a vacancy in his slack-jawed stare when we made eye contact.
I ended with “God Be With You ’Til We Meet Again,” a hymn from 1880 that always concluded our singing sessions.
The final verse urges the listener to “smite death’s threatening wave before you.”
But minutes later, that wave crashed over him. His breathing became shallow and finally stopped altogether. My sister and I, hovering at his bedside, summoned a nurse, and she found no pulse.
By end-of-life standards, it did go well. Dad was vertical until his final hours — indeed, he stood up from his chair to assist the paramedics in putting him on the stretcher — and I’ve long heard it said that one measure of the quality of life is how few days you must spend horizontally.
Though he clearly struggled to breathe at the end, he showed no outward signs of pain, and he had loved ones squeezing his hands on either side.
He had his wits up until his final hours. I have witnessed the heartbreaking deterioration of dementia in my mother for 10 years now, and it is a ghastly fade into oblivion.
All was well in that he had an enviable and complete life filled with respect, admiration, accomplishment, art, music, penetrating conversation and love. Since he died, I’ve heard from scores of old friends and colleagues who remember his generosity, attentiveness, even temper and integrity. I was so proud of him and for him. And in my grief, I felt incredibly lucky to have had all the time with him that I did.
My world is smaller and sadder than it was a week ago, but larger and more joyous for having had him as a father.
I have also heard from scores of readers of the Picayune Sentinel empathically relating to my loss and welcoming me “to the club that no one wants to join.”
Nearly all my friends are already in that club, having experienced the loss of at least one parent, if not a sibling, spouse or child. I’m conscious of wanting to share my experience here without suggesting that mine is in any way sadder or more deserving of attention than the experiences most of you have had and hopefully all of you will.
By hopefully, I mean that death will come to your family in the appropriate order — parents preceding their children in death, the elder preceding the younger. And not too soon.
I chose the photo above showing my father at age 11 holding his then-baby sister Elizabeth because it illustrates how he lifted and supported others his entire life — as a sibling, a son, a husband, a father, a teacher and a colleague.
When told of his death his week, Elizabeth, who is clinging to life in a hospice facility, said simply, “He was my best friend.”
All was well enough in his long, magnificent life.
Still, I am brought to tears as I think of the line in Craig Johnson’s 1975 song “New Harmony” in which he sings of “the things that I can’t tell you now.”
When I first heard “New Harmony,” I assumed it was about the loss of a romantic love. But I later learned that it’s about the loss of the opportunity to share thoughts and experiences with a deceased father and grandfather.
When the Michigan basketball team barely eked out a victory over Penn State on Tuesday night, I had the impulse to call Dad to debrief, as we did after most games.
How did we almost lose to a team missing its star player? What’s with getting out-rebounded by a team that hasn’t won a single conference game? Did you see how close that attempted buzzer beater was? Do we really deserve that No. 2 ranking?
Almost immediately, I remembered that we could not have that conversation, that we will never again backfence over Michigan sports, politics, technology or the doings of his grandchildren.
“The things I can’t tell you now.”
I’m told that this impulse never really passes and remains a tiny and almost daily stab in the heart. Though I dread that, I know I’ll be glad to remember him and remind myself of how grateful I am to have been his son.
Jens Zorn, 2025
Here are your best guesses (and mine) as to what will happen in 2026
Some 550 readers clicked their predictions/wild guesses in my annual survey. Here are the results, with the percentage of respondents giving each answer in parenthesis and my additional comments in italics.
On these 27 questions, readers and I agree
1. Which party will control the U.S. House after the 2026 midterms?
Democrats (91%)
The president’s party most often loses seats in the House in off-year elections:
Under Democratic President Joe Biden, the Democrats lost nine seats in 2022.
Under Republican President Donald Trump, the Republicans lost 41 seats in 2020.
Under Democratic President Barack Obama, the Democrats lost 13 seats in 2014.
Under Democratic President Barack Obama, the Democrats lost 63 seats in 2010.
Under Republican President George W. Bush, the Republicans lost 32 seats in 2006.
Exceptions in the last 102 years occurred only in 2002, 1998 and 1934.
2. Will the U.S. Supreme Court rule against the Trump administration in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, the case that challenges the president’s authority to levy broad national tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act?
Yes (57%)
3. Will the U.S. Supreme Court rule against the Trump administration in Trump v. Barbara, the case that will determine whether President Trump’s 2025 executive order restricting birthright citizenship is constitutional?
Yes (83%)
Restricting birthright citizenship would break with an important precedent and set up the country to have a permanently stateless immigrant class. My guess is that the court recognizes that.
4. What will the annual rate of inflation — currently 2.7% — be at the end of 2026?
Between 2.7% and 5% (89%)
For me, this is as much a hope as a guess, though I think it’s going to be closer to 5% than 3%.
5. What will the national average price of a gallon of gas — currently $2.82 — be at the end of 2026?
$3 to $4 (64%)
6. What will the U.S. unemployment rate — currently 4.6% — be at the end of 2026?
Higher than 4.6% (78%)
7. Will the price of Bitcoin — currently just under $88,000 — exceed $100,000 at the end of 2026?
No (76%)
I’m still stunned that this imaginary currency has any value at all.
8. Will Donald Trump still be the president of the United States at the end of 2026?
Yes (88%)
There is zero chance that Trump will be impeached and removed and a very small chance that health issues will drive him from office. Still, several readers suggested this question, and I was happy to oblige.
9. Will construction on the new White House ballroom — where the East Wing once stood — be completed at the end of 2026?
No (89%)
This question, also suggested by readers, was a gimme. The ballroom is not expected to be completed until at least 2028.
10. Will President Donald Trump attend the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, scheduled for this coming summer?
No (99%)
Perhaps this question should have been “Will Trump even be invited to the opening …?” I would say no to that and hell no to the thought that the petty manchild in the White House would attend.
11. Will President Donald Trump offer a pardon or commute the sentence of Sean Combs (aka P. Diddy/Puff Daddy/Diddy)?
Yes (59%)
12. Will a peace deal be struck between Ukraine and Russia that will last into December 2026?
No (81%)
Though there may be deals and ceasefires declared, I don’t see them lasting.
13. Will Benjamin Netanyahu still be prime minister of Israel at the end of 2026?
Yes (72%)
14. Will Bari Weiss still be the editor in chief of CBS News at the end of 2026?
No (54%)
15. Will ousted CBS late-night talk-show host Stephen Colbert have a daily or weekly talk show on a network or streaming service?
Yes (85%)
Colbert is too talented to be mothballed. I think there is a slightly greater than zero chance that he begins laying the groundwork for a serious bid for the presidency. Yes, he’s “just” a comedian, but he’s whip-smart and highly principled. And our current president, who is neither of these things, was “just” a reality TV star and frequently bankrupted real estate developer.
16. Former Trump national security adviser John Bolton faces eight counts of transmitting national defense information and 10 counts of retaining classified information. What will his legal status be at the end of 2026?
Still awaiting trial (59%)
The federal courts move at a glacial pace. For the record, 34% of respondents thought he’d either be acquitted or have the charges dismissed, and just 7% thought he’d be found guilty. I suspect, though, that he will ultimately be found guilty (and get a pardon from the next Democratic president).
17. Who will win the March Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Dick Durbin?
Raja Krishnamoorthi (84%)
18. Who will win the March Democratic primary for the 9th District U.S. House seat being vacated by Jan Schakowsky?
Daniel Biss (56%)
And this was before news that Schakowsky endorses Biss.
19. Will JB Pritzker be reelected governor of Illinois?
Yes (98%)
The Illinois Republican Party doesn’t have the juice to get a candidate across the finish line. I suppose I should have asked who the Republican nominee will be — Darren Bailey, Ted Dabrowski, James Mendrick or another — but like most readers, I don’t think it matters.
20. Will former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan still be in prison at the end of 2026?
Yes (67%)
21. Will JB Pritzker announce a 2028 run for president in 2026?
No (52%)
I do expect him to run but not to announce until early 2027.
22. Will the Bears have put a shovel in the ground at a new stadium site by the end of 2026?
No (83%)
It’s possible that the team will strike a deal with Arlington Heights, but even so, I doubt construction on a new stadium would begin in the coming year.
23. Will the Bears make the playoffs in the 2026-27 season?
Yes (84%)
24. Will the Sox lose fewer than 100 games in 2026? (The team lost 102 games in 2025.)
Yes (82%)
25. Will the Cubs make the postseason in 2026?
Yes (67%)
26. Will Tiger Woods play in any of golf’s four major championships next year?
No (71%)
He’s 50 years old and gimpy from so many surgeries.
27. Will Angel Reese still be with the WNBA Chicago Sky at the end of 2026?
No (53%)
The team will trade her for a draft choice or two.
On these 17 questions, readers and I disagree
1. Which party will control the U.S. Senate after the 2026 midterms?
Republicans (58%)
The president’s party does most often lose seats in the Senate in off-year elections but less consistently than in the House. Both President Biden and President Trump gained seats in 2022 and 2018, as did four other presidents in the last 102 years. It’s probably a smart bet that the Republicans’ 53-47 advantage will hold, as a swing of four seats or more toward the party out of power has happened just 12 times in the last 102 years. But I am betting that this will be the lucky 13th time.
2. Will there be another U.S. government shutdown in 2026?
Yes (69%)
I say no, the Democrats learned their lesson with their feckless shutdown in 2025 and won’t want to risk voter blowback in an election year.
3. Will the Dow Jones Industrial Average — currently nearly 49,000 — be higher than 50,000 at the end of 2026?
Yes (62%)
I have major fears that the AI bubble will burst and the Dow will fall over the year. But I really hope I’m wrong!
4. Which of these members of the Trump Cabinet will still be in place at the end of 2026?
Secretary of State Marco Rubio (92%)
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (64%)
Attorney General Pam Bondi (53%)
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (51%)
I agree with readers that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will be gone (just 37% think he’ll still be in place) but disagree that Bondi and Noem will survive the year in their jobs.
5. Will President Donald Trump offer a pardon or commute the sentence of sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell?
Yes (53%)
My suspicion is that Trump feels it is safer for him to keep Maxwell behind bars while he’s in office. Because if her pardoned her, she might say compromising things about him.
6. Will the U.S. have control of Greenland by the end of 2026?
No (99%)
In fairness, most readers answered this question before the U.S. invaded Venezuela and the White House revived the idea of acquiring Greenland. I’ve come to the view that very little of what Trump says during his second term is mere bluster.
7. Will China either take over or be attempting militarily to take over Taiwan in 2026?
No (61%)
The Chinese have to have been emboldened by the precedent the U.S. has set in taking over the governance of Venezuela to get back “stolen” oil reserves. How can the U.S. object on principle to China declaring Taiwan to be territory “stolen” from them and kidnapping Taiwan’s leadership?
8. Who will win the March Democratic primary for the 2nd District U.S. House seat being vacated by Robin Kelly?
Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (48%)
The felonious Triple J has great name recognition and so is probably the smart choice, but I’m liking state Sen. Robert Peters, the pick of 11% of readers.
9. Who will win the March Democratic primary for the 7th District U.S. House seat being vacated by Danny Davis?
Melissa Conyears-Ervin (38%)
I’m going with La Shawn Ford, the pick of 12% of readers.
10. Who among the currently mentioned potential 2027 Chicago mayoral race hopefuls will be in the running at the end of 2026? (Choose as many as you think will be in the race.)
Brandon Johnson (75%)
Susana Mendoza (71%)
Alexi Giannoulias (62%)
While I agree with these, I’m guessing that Willie Wilson, Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, Paul Vallas, Ald. Bill Conway, 34th, and state Rep. Kam Buckner will also still be in the running. I made this prediction before U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley announced his mayoral bid.
11. Will Chicago have fewer than 400 homicides in 2026?
Yes (53%)
I hate to be a downer, but 2025 saw the lowest number of homicides in Chicago (416) since the 1960s, and I don’t see any mechanism that will keep that number from rising in 2026.
12. Will the new Bally’s Casino in River West on the former site of the Tribune printing plant open its doors in 2026?
No (54%)
While I think the new casino will be a bust, I do think it will open this year.
13. Will the Tribune or Sun-Times discontinue print editions for certain days of the week in 2026?
Yes (77%)
We’re still a year or two away from the inevitably reduced publication schedule. I’m just hoping neither publication has newsroom layoffs.
14. How many times will U.S. Border Patrol agents return in force to Chicago in 2026?
Three or more times (36%)
I’m going with once.
15. How many playoff games will the Bears win in the 2025-26 season?
One (46%)
I’m going with zero.
16. Which team will win the NCAA football championship?
Indiana (82%)
I decided to redo this question after the top choice of readers (Ohio State) and my top choice (Georgia) lost in the quarterfinals. Now, just to be contrary, I’m picking Oregon, though my heart is totally with Indiana University, where my grandfathers were both professors (math and history) and my mother was a graduate (English literature).
17. Which team will win the Super Bowl?
San Francisco 49ers (26%)
I’m liking the Seattle Seahawks, the second choice of readers (20%), and I admire the optimism of the 10% of readers who picked the Bears.
“Stalker Moms.” Rebecca Steinitz takes a pitiless look at “The Runaway Bunny” and “Love You Forever,” a pair of actually fairly creepy children’s books.
This is a bonus supplement to the Land of Linkin’ from veteran radio, internet and newspaper journalist Charlie Meyerson. Each week, he offers a selection of intriguing links from his daily email news briefing Chicago Public Square:
■ Traditional conservative and ex-husband to Trump acolyte Kellyanne Conway—he cried with joy at Trump’s 2016 election—George Conway has moved to Manhattan from the D.C. area to run for Congress as a Democrat.
■ “Maybe it’s JD Vance time”: USA Today Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke: “A 79-year-old man with near-constant and not-well-explained bruises on his hands … has now led America into what appears to be an occupation of Venezuela, with no clear sense of why it happened or how it will end. Does that worry you? It should.”
■ Everyone Is Entitled to My Own Opinion proprietor Jeff Tiedrich reviews another Trump speech yesterday: “The president’s brain has left the station. I’m not sure it’s ever coming back.”
■ Wonkette’s Evan Hurst sees reason for hope in previous performance: “The people who did the newest Trump Terribleness are the same … pathetic loser conservative white boys who did the last Trump Terribleness, and did the new thing just as stupidly and incompetently as the last thing, and before long everybody starts laughing at them again”—a thing “The Daily Show” got right to last night.
■ Crimewatchers’ delight: Chicago’s inspector general has published an interactive map that lets you explore city data on what crimes are being reported where—and in what quantity. Click on your neighborhood here.
■ “A structural economic failure … hurting the country at all levels”: A strategic communications consultant and mother of two (and friend to your Square columnist) who finds herself and her husband simultaneously unemployed writes for the Sun-Times: “Upper-middle-class professionals who assumed the economy would always work for us are now saying the quiet part out loud: It isn’t.”
■ Grok shock: The Washington Post reports (gift link): “X [Twitter] users tell Grok to undress women and girls in photos. It’s saying yes. … Owner Elon Musk responded with a laughing emoji.”
You can (and should) subscribe to Chicago Public Square free here.
Media notes
I suppose congratulations are in order to the Sun-Times for publishing the dismaying story headlined “Ex-CEO of Chicago Public Media saw $900,000 payout in 2024.” This payout occurred as CPM (the Chicago Sun-Times /WBEZ partnership) “engaged in staff cuts and other measures to deal with declining revenue.”
“… (Matt Moog’s) pay in 2024, representing work through September of that year, was higher than the full year pay of other CEOs at some larger and more complex nonprofits in Chicago. … Chicago Public Media also paid $107,227 to Moog’s company, Wavetable Studios, ‘for transitional services after his departure’ from the company.”
This landed pretty hard at the same time CPM was begging readers and listeners for donations to support their journalism. The unspoken and discouraging truth is that these donations were in part going to pay 323 large to a “chief people officer” and 127 large for “transitional services,” not to mention an enormous payday for an already wealthy CEO.
Quotables
A collection of compelling, sometimes appalling passages I’ve encountered lately
I complain a lot, as is my nature, but I still love writing (my blog). Love writing just about anything, really. The buzzing cloud of life’s concerns falls silent, and it’s just me tapping away for a few hours, turning out another one of these things. That people also read them and get something out of them, well, icing on the cake. — Neil Steinberg
I feel as though every time I watch a video of Trump speaking my IQ goes down 400, 500, even 600%. — Barney Panofsky
American democracy and the Constitution are not equipped to deal in an effective and timely manner with a president who aggressively and willfully tramples the law. — Thomas Edsall in The New York Times (gift link)
Faced with a president willing to use arbitrary power to reward and punish civil society actors — and a compliant Congress and Supreme Court — a diverse set of actors has each decided it is in their self-interest to defer to unprecedented, and in many cases illegal, demands from the president. — Eric Schickler, a political scientist at the University of California, Berkeley.
The Democratic Party and its cultural vanguard have spent nearly a decade hyperventilating over every transgression, enforcing a rigid cultural orthodoxy misaligned with average voters, and gaslighting the public about the visible cognitive decline of the previous president. They have cried wolf so often, and with such performative hysteria, that the American electorate has gone deaf. — Sean Westwood, Dartmouth political scientist
This is not the time to stand down. This is the time to stand up to support real facts, real journalism, actual truth. Follow legit journalists, not the spinmeisters in government, TV and online who are sycophants that embrace falsehoods. Reality Matters. — Former Tribune political reporter Ray Long
Isn't it odd that the United States has enough money to suddenly run Venezuela, but not enough to run our own country? There is always cash in the piggy bank for bombs to kill people, but never for healthcare to keep them alive. — Betty Bowers
The biggest clue that the invasion of Venezuela is about oil was when Trump and J.D. Vance said it was about oil. — Thelma Johnson
Covering Trump is like asking Herbert Morrison to broadcast the Hindenburg disaster every day: “Once again, Phil, I have to go with ‘Oh, the humanity!’ Back to you.” — Peter Sagal
Quips
The new nominees for Quip of the Week:
Wife: I told you not to watch this show without me. It says three episodes have been watched. Me [thinking fast]: I’m having an affair. My girlfriend watched them, not me. Wife: You’d better not be lying. —@johnlyon.bsky.social
Yo, sexy! That salad mix ain’t the only thing around here that’s “washed and ready to enjoy.” Hey, where are you going? — @MelvinofYork
The mess is coming from inside the house. — @deloisivete
If you couldn’t remember the lyrics to the New Year’s song it could be Auldzheimer’s. — @RickAaron
Music Fun Facts: Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” is based on a true story about walking a particular way. — @jakevig.bsky.social
[watching a pro athlete drop a pass] Me: *eating SpaghettiOs for dinner* What a loser! — @stevesuckington.bsky.social
Shout out to the top 5 ables in the world, veget, syll, valu, Lunch and Les Miser. — @mrgeorgewallace.bsky.social
You misunderstood. When I said, “Let’s circle back to that in the new year” I meant “Never contact me again.” — @ohnoshetwitnt.bsky.social
Lawyer: Where were you on the night of the murder? Me: In the desert. Lawyer: And who were you with? Me: A horse. Lawyer: And what is the name of this horse? Horse (from the back of the courtroom) *does the throat-cut gesture* Me: Uhh, he didn’t have one. — frovo@bsky.social
Friend: Our basement just flooded. We have to cancel game night. Me: (covering the phone) That’s a bit extreme! Genie: Two wishes left. — @whatsjo.bsky.social
Vote here and check the current results in the poll.
For instructions and guidelines regarding the poll, click here.
The Rascals begin the podcast this week talking about the ICE shooting in Minneapolis that left a woman dead. The Rascals talk about the shooting, the response by DHS, and what they thought after watching the video of the incident. Continuing on the national front, the Rascals talk about the U.S. capturing President Nicolás Maduro and the latest on the situation in Venezuela. What’s next? The Rascals break it all down. Also, what’s going on with the desire by the Trump administration to acquire Greenland? Next, Austin tells us, why you can’t start a Chicago-style hot dog cart in Chicago. And finally, Rep. Mike Quigley announced that he will be running for Chicago mayor. Do the Rascals see him as a viable candidate?
Subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. Or bookmark this page. If you’re not a podcast listener, you can hear an edited version of the show at 8 p.m. most Saturday evenings on WGN-AM 720.
Read the background bios of some regular panelists here.
Info
I am a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. I began publishing the Picayune Sentinel on Sept. 9, 2021, roughly two and a half months after I took a buyout from the newspaper. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise. Browse and search back issues here.
Contact
You can email me at ericzorn@gmail.com or by clicking here:
I read all the messages that come in, but I do most of my interacting with readers in the comments section beneath each issue.
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A beautiful tribute to your Dad and a remembrance of a life well lived. That you could have good conversations with him in the weeks before he passed is a blessing as was his calm acceptance and recognition of the end. Thank you, Eric for sharing him in a small way with us over the years. May God bless him and your family.
We lost our young adult daughter right before Thanksgiving. Expected but brutal; then and now and tomorrow.
Different circumstances than your loss, but the conclusion is the same.
A friend pointed out an old Bread song that also was not about romantic loss, but loss of a father. Not quite our family's case, but the sentiment is identical.
"The finest years I ever knew
Were all the years I had with you
And I would give anything I own
I'd give up my life, my heart, my home
I would give everything I own
Just to have you back again"
It's not the big things I miss, it's the small things.
A beautiful tribute to your Dad and a remembrance of a life well lived. That you could have good conversations with him in the weeks before he passed is a blessing as was his calm acceptance and recognition of the end. Thank you, Eric for sharing him in a small way with us over the years. May God bless him and your family.
Glad I am fairly de-identified.
We lost our young adult daughter right before Thanksgiving. Expected but brutal; then and now and tomorrow.
Different circumstances than your loss, but the conclusion is the same.
A friend pointed out an old Bread song that also was not about romantic loss, but loss of a father. Not quite our family's case, but the sentiment is identical.
"The finest years I ever knew
Were all the years I had with you
And I would give anything I own
I'd give up my life, my heart, my home
I would give everything I own
Just to have you back again"
It's not the big things I miss, it's the small things.