It's always a reality check. I saw mom deal with it when my grandpa had issues and finally passed away. Saw my dad deal with it when my grandma passed away. Funny thing is you're learning a life lesson, you just don't know it. My grandma really held that side of the family together and my mom is very much like her. There was a large void when she passed away. I was living in MN at the time and always went through the farm in MO to see her, even if it was just for a few minutes. I think I was 21-22 at the time.
There's a song that Colt Ford and Jake Owen do, "Back". When the he mentions his mom never letting him down, what will he do when she's not around, the thought of that knocks me on my a$$! I'm sure it's many years down the road but it's sure been on my mind lately!
My grandpa, dads family, worked 6 days a week his entire life. Went to bed after a days work and never woke up. He farmed, was a damn good carpenter and pretty handy wrenching on his old Farmalls. I think he was 74.
My other grandpa was a cancer survivor, recovered alcoholic (long before I came along) and made it into his 90's. My great grandmother (his mother in law) damn near made 101. My great aunt, dads aunt, made it to 105! Just died this spring. We've got good genes that's for sure.
I appreciate the words of encouragement. After my grandmothers funeral my cousin and I went out to tie one on. I was thoroughly inebriated and while standing in front of the trough somebody had scribbled on the wall "everyday above ground is a good day". I thought that was fitting given the scenario. My baptist aunt (cousins mom) didn't think much of me the next morning when I came down for breakfast about 3:00 pm!!! Picked my cousin's (my drinking cousin's older brother) son up from school green as a gourd riding shotgun in my cousin's pickup. He was about 9-10 at the time. To this day he remembers us wearing sunglasses even though it was a drury day and the radio was on very low to mitigate the headaches.....
Damn that was a long winded meandering post!