I Have a Certain Close Relative Who...

... gets one idea into his/her head and manages to repeat that to everyone during a particular day. It's fascinating -- especially because I find myself doing the same thing.

My grandfather died this past summer at the age of 84. It was a good thing believe it or not. He was just in so much pain and his life wasn't really fruitful anymore. He'd had a great trip, seen a lot of things including the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima in WWII. The last thing I'll remember about him is when my dad and I cleaned out his room at his house. We found exquisitely meticulous records of hundreds of classic movies he'd recorded onto Betamax from TV. We also found 6 different loaded weapons, including a .44 pistol. My grandfather meant a lot to a bunch of people.

The same can be said for Mauro. He had been feeling ill for some time and a combination of bad doctoring and his own stubborness culminated in tragedy last Friday. He died at the young age of 50. I was the last person at the company to see him on Friday morning (he insisted on coming to work even though he was so weak he could barely get out of the car). He finally agreed to go home and see the doctor, but only after spending the first 15 minutes of the day mapping out all the warehouse work to be done -- and only after I ordered him to do it. (I loathe ordering around people like that, but while you can take the man out of the military, but you can't take the military out of the man). Our last interaction was just the way he approached almost everything -- with complete dedication and devotion.

From what I understand, Mauro passed away in an ambulance on the way to the hospital later that afternoon. He had been with the company for just over ten years. We miss him greatly. He was family.

http://obits.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?type=0&id=29323

(I hope this link works given what the newspaper companies charge to run obits. Shame on them for taking advantage of people like that.)