Keeping it in the family after eight years in Beijing

I knew it'd be the last time I'd see him alive. He did, too.

Not that Grandpa seemed sicker than he'd been in the past two decades. He'd been seriously ill as long as I could remember. He used to joke that the surgeons should just put a zipper on his chest. Many of my childhood visits were to his hospital bed.

But we both knew the recent, sudden loss of Grandma was too much for him. Neither of us said so directly. Still, we spoke as if these were our last moments together.