This year I had planned on staying in NYC the whole holiday season, but my grandfather passed away very, very suddenly on Saturday morning, so we grabbed an emergency flight back to Illinois, rolled into town for the visitation on Monday night and I performed the funeral eulogy and graveside services on Tuesday.

Tara recorded the funeral eulogy and I’m posting the audio here for three reasons. First, I loved him very, very much and inherited a good chunk of my storytelling capacity from him. Second, I’m still grieving and this is the easiest way to share what I’m going through. Third, my family has asked me to share it and this is the quickest way since I no longer have social media. Fourth, versions of these stories will appear in the next novel I write — I’ve been interviewing both grandpas this year and one of the stories just sold to The New Haven Review.

Please hold your loved ones close this season. Life is short and it’s hard work bringing about the kind of world we hope to have, but men like Deno make it happen in their own way:

My family has gone through an inordinate amount of grief these past two years with Uncle Bryan, Grandma Della, Tara’s grandpa, my cousin, and now this. And yet I have hope: it’s the darkest time of year, but this is when the light comes in.

Have a Merry Christmas, folks.