Goodbye Genie
Posted on February 15, 2009 - Filed Under Life, Memories
Sean and Travis lost their grandmother Genie to cancer on Valentines Day.
Toni and I lost a friend.
Sean and Travis are my step-sons, and Genie is their fathers mother.
The first time I met Genie I was kind of surprised at how open and warm she was. Here I was, a new “man” in the life of her grandchildren and by all means she had every right not to trust the situation… yet she greeted me with a hug and a smile. And it was always that way, every time I saw her it was a hug and a smile.
Early in the “getting to know you” of talking to Genie it was clear that she was a special person. I may not have liked her son Aaron much (Toni’s ex) but I sure liked Genie and her husband Bill.
Genie would call me and we would have hour long conversations about my goals, what I wanted to do for the boys and Toni, and I explained how I wanted to raise the boys. It was simple really. I wanted to provide a good home for the kids, take care of Toni and make sure they had everything they needed to be happy. Genie made sure that it wasn’t just smoke and mirrors and that I was sincere about what I was saying. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to talk to her about these things. She made it easy.
We would talk about many things including parenting, being responsible to ourselves and the way we interact with everything on earth and how to just be a decent person. I am going to miss those phone conversations.
We had our share of disagreements on things, but it was always handled with mutual respect. She was honest and open, would say what she needed to say and then it was done. How can you not respect someone like that?
Genie was thrilled when Alex was born and she followed his growth on this website. Her comments are still here in the earlier days of the blog. It’s hard to read them and realize that the person who wrote those things is gone.
I feel terrible for the boys. I know the pain and sadness they are feeling right now having just experienced this with my own grandmother. I wish I would make it better for them, but there is nothing that can be done. Losing someone you care about is painful and you deal with it the best you can.
Farewell Genie, and thank you for the wisdom and memories you shared with me.
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my thoughts and prayers are with you, toni, and the boys.