GRANDPA'S WATCH

I knew his time was near, although I tried to show it every day, still I wasted no time showing him how much he meant to me and how much he is loved. I cherished my grandfather, and now I faced the realization that he was dying. . I was one of the lucky ones, I had my whole family intact. I never had to face the loss of a loved one, but now a moment I knew was part of life, was upon me and I was losing the most important person in my life. I had such good memories of my grandfather that time could never erase but I wasn’t ready to let go.


The strongest memory I had was sitting on his lap so many times as a child and having him take his old pocket watch from his vest pocket and hold it to my ear so I could hear it tick. I don’t remember how young I was when we started doing this, but I know it was an important time I celebrated since before my memory took hold of the things around me. I do know it was a moment that my grandfather and I held close and as simple as it was it meant so much to me.

My mind, though wondering through time and all the years of love and memories, had to come back to the present. My grandfather had called me to his bedside and it was only him and me in this moment.
So many times in my life it had been just him and me but somehow I knew this time would be different. Would it be our last time? No I would not think about that. I would not let my mind lead me into the sadness I knew awaited me in the near future.
He held out his hand to me and spoke the words that 32 years later still ring in my ears.

“Take care of this, hold it close to your heart and grandpa will always be close to you.” With that he laid his pocket watch in my hand.
“Grandpa has had this watch for a long time, he said, and I know it will be loved with you as much as I loved when your grandma gave it to me back in 1920.”

Now whenever I get sad and wish he were here with me again I take that old watch out and hold it to my ear and I can hear my grandpa again. The ticking of the watch is his heart still beating in my memory

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