 I remember when my grandpa died. Grandpa and grandma were my mother's parents. Poppy and Nana were my father's.
I was 15 when my mother got the call late one weekday afternoon. My mom answered the phone around 5 PM, I was sitting in the kitchen doing my homework. Her brother was calling from California to tell her that their father had died of a heart attack. Grandpa was only 70 years old. He was a healthy good looking man with a personality to boot. How could he possibly be dead? Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. My mother was in total shock. We saw grandpa and grandma once a year. They lived in California, where my mother's brother and sister also lived. We lived in New Jersey. They were long distance parents and grandparents. Grandma seemed to get herself together after losing grandpa. She decided to spend the spring and summer in New York where she had left a handsome young Dr. for my grandpa many, many, moons ago. Dr. R. had waited for my grandmother all those years and never married. Dr. R. rented grandma an apartment in New York City. For her to use whenever she pleased. They were adorable. They would walk down the streets of New York hand and hand. In their other hand, each would have their own cane. This love affair went on for almost eight years. Then one cold day in January we got a call that Dr. R. had been found dead in his bathtub. They didn't find him for a couple of days. We're not sure what happened...probably a heart attack. I wonder if he, and grandpa's, lives would have been saved if they had a medical alarm system? Grandma went back to California and I never saw her again. Within less than a year my grandmother had a stroke and died soon after. In a way they were lucky. My grandpa, Dr. R., and grandma went fast. My mother was very lucky, in that, she didn't have to make life altering changes for her parents well being. Someone watched over them, and let them go with little suffering. Some do. Our society is now living so much longer. Not always with a good quality of life. More and more people end up in assisted living and nursing homes. We boomers are trying to take care of our parents the best we can. Sometimes our parents fight when we try to help them make smart decisions about their living conditions. Our parents live longer. Most of our grandparents never made it to assisted living and nursing homes. They just didn't live that long. We are really the first generation that has to address this issue with their parents. What are our kids going to do with us? | 
