My papa passed away in a D.C. hospital around 4:00 this morning.

He was the grandpa little kids liked to take walks around the old neighborhood with, dance with at clam bakes and weddings, eat tomatoes straight from his garden (salt shaker outside), have put taps on their shoes, hear laughing.

Last time I saw him he gave me some of my gandma's things and said he wasn't coming back to Ohio this time. He patted my boys on the cheek and said he wished he could see them (he had gone blind). They made him smile out loud anyway. I told him in not so many words what he meant to me.

On his last day, my aunt saw him talking and reaching out to someone who wasn't there.