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On Tuesday morning, my boys lost their Gido (Ukrainian for grandpa). This is the letter that Big Man is going to read at the service:

"Dad,

Everyone gathered here today to remember & celebrate you already knows what a special and truly good man you were. There's not a person in this room whose life was not touched, and made better, by having known you. However, there is a part of you that only very few people gathered here today ever were lucky enough to see, but it's the side that me & my own family loved about you most of all: what a wonderful, loving Gido you were.

There's no end to the love and affection you had for all 3 of your grandsons: "Bee", "Lee" and "the baby". You loved to tell anyone who would listen about "your boys" and all the many things that made them so special. No matter how rambunctious the boys were, no matter what they were trying to get into, you were always there with a smile and assurances that, "Oh, they're fine, they’re fine." However, there is no denying the absolutely special and unique bond you had with our oldest son, "Bee", and that's what I want to share, and celebrate, with everyone here.

"Bee" was your first grandchild, and right from the start you were smitten with our little boy. Seeing you hold him in your arms reminded me so much of those old photographs I've looked at so many times, of myself being so small, and being held by an impossibly-young looking Dad. Watching you play and laugh with "Bee" was so touching to see - he seemed to bring out a side of you that we'd never seen, a tenderness to your personality that was so wonderful to see.

When "Bee" was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, our world changed - not for the worse, not in a bad way - but it changed. Now we had to seek out therapies, and assistance, and try to champion the help that our little boy needed. However, through all of this, and even when "Bee" would seem to be so frustrated and angry with the world, and couldn’t communicate what he was feeling, you always were there as his Gido, and he was always just your darling grandson, and not your darling autistic grandson.

 
For the most part, "Bee" wasn't overly affectionate with people other than me or "blahblahblah"... with the exception of Gido. During visits, they were always together. From the moment "Bee" woke up, to the moment he went to sleep, it was all about Gido. Reading books together. Playing games together. Eating meals together. Sitting on the couch, or laying in the gazebo… always together. "Bee" was able to be himself with you Dad – there was a quiet peacefulness when the two of you were together, an unspoken understanding  that everything was okay, and "Bee" could let go of the tension and just be himself. He is so lucky to have someone who loved him so purely, so deeply – someone who didn't judge him or see his diagnosis. Someone who just saw "Bee" for the little boy he was. Gido and "Bee"... "Bee" and Gido. Unconditional love.

You will be deeply missed by all of your boys, Gido... and we promise they will always be reminded of just how much their Gido loved them."

Goodbye, Gido. We love you.