2024.07.23 Goodbye Grandpa K

Grandpa Kosiancic was a stubborn mean little old gnome of a man, full of laughter and caring, and my idol in most things mechanical.

When my mom called this evening, I had guessed that he had died before she said anything. She's a hermit, and she only calls me in emergencies. Or, rather, in the wake of emergencies that I should know about after they've happened.

Grandpa K was really old, mid-90's, and had only just last year decided to stop taking care of the hobby farm lot and old homestead by himself on top of the mountain overlooking Nelson BC - and checked himself into a care facility, after re-homing his dog. Having been an unstoppable dynamo his entire life, this transition says to me that he was acknowledging that he didn't have much more wear and tear possible to endure.

It's not really possible to unpack in a blog all the ways that my personal conceptions of self-worth and intrinsic value have spawned from my life of observations of my Grandpa K. But I will assert that he was an incarnation of what good can come of a life of hard work and caring for others.

Perhaps one of my most viscerally proud things was being able to visit Grandpa K, and have him delight in the bright, inquisitive, and joyful great-grandchildren I'm at least partially responsible for.

Thank you for being my Grandpa.