I don’t usually post extremely personal stuff on here, but these pictures meant too much to not share. So here’s the story.. Last November, my dad passed away. I was expecting my first child due in March. They missed each other by 4 months. My dad loved his kids more than anything in the world. And he was beyond elated to find out he was going to be a grandpa when we told him last June. Shortly after the good news, we got the bad news. Life can be really frustrating that way. We stayed hopeful. We stayed positive. And my dad — he never complained once. But time soon showed it wasn’t taking his side, and we learned a few months later that our time with him was going to run out. When the doctors told my dad there was nothing more they could do, he looked at me and my siblings and said “it’s ok. It’s going to be ok. I’ve lived an amazing life. I’m ready to go. Everything’s going to be ok.” He was the strongest, most loving, and most selfless person I’ve ever met when it came to his kids. He could have had so many emotions take over him, but instead he chose to leave us with closure that he was at peace with it. I will never be able to understand how he was able to do this with death ringing his doorbell. But that’s the kind of dad he was. His mother/my grandma is still with us. She lost her son. Her baby boy. She’s 90. She told me she’s lived too long. It should have been her. A parent should never have to lose their child. But she gained a new reason to keep living once my son arrived. She lives 3,000 miles away and it’s too difficult for her to fly, so we said the second we could bring our little one on a plane, we would be heading east. It’s hard enough knowing my boy will never meet his grandpa. So this was the next best, most important thing. These pictures are from their first moments finally meeting. Each a piece of my dad, embracing the other piece. The joy and the pain brought tears to my eyes. I know the first thing my dad would want was for me to unite them. And although I’d do anything for one more moment with him, I’m grateful that I could give my grandmother one more moment to feel a love beyond words. And boy, is she in love with this boy.