Hello, hello, everyone. This is Tanya Dalton, owner of Inquale Press, and I'm here to give you another episode of The Weekender, a mini episode to help you end your week on the right note.

This week in the podcast, we talked about defining your core values, and I wanted to share a story about the person in my life who I feel really embodies the core values on a daily basis.

In the fall of 2009, my grandpa climbed on the roof to fix up the house for winter.

He mowed and aerated the lawn by hand.

He went on a long walk benefiting down syndrome. And he continued his life as anyone would. He was 87 years old, but he'd always been healthier than those half his age. So you can imagine it was a shock to us when he fell sick a week afterwards. That's when the doctors saw the cancer which had apparently been ravishing his

body for quite some time. The prognosis was days, maybe weeks. His first reaction, when doctors told him

the news, I knew this was something you had to think about when you got old. This is just the first time

I've been old. Never one to wallow, my grandpa. So I rushed to his

bedside in Denver, expecting to be greeted with sorrow and mourning. But you see, that's not really

how my grandpa worked. He greeted us with a smile and a hug, and we laughed about old times,

and we revisited stories. All of his children and grandchildren gathered around his hospital bed

as we sang hymns and prayers and recited his favorite psalm.

He opened his eyes and said,

Oh boy, this is great.

Not many men get to attend their own funeral.

This means the world to me.

Having those last few days with him was a gift.

A gift not everyone is given, a chance to say goodbye. My grandpa taught me many things during the time

I had with him. He taught me to live my life to its fullest, to keep my body and mind sharp and fit,

and he taught me to love unconditionally.

But in those last few days, I learned something more,

how to live and die with dignity and grace.

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