“My father was a great man. If you knew him, you knew that you should never take anything he says seriously,” William said. Everyone laughed.

We were at Grant’s funeral. I personally knew him through work. Wow, the good times we had together.

“Remember that one time Grant showed up to the office in a Batman costume?” Henry asked me. 

I laughed. Grant really had a great sense of humor. He just always knew how to cheer everyone up, especially me. I remember when my Gigi passed away. She was my little companion for 17 years. I called off of work the next day after she passed. Grant called me and asked what happened. I remember it like this:

“Why aren’t you here today? Everyone else here is lame,” he asked.

“My dog passed away last night,” I said, in a disappointing tone.

“I’m sorry dude. I’m always here for ya if you need anything,” he said sympathetically.

Little did I know, he really did mean it. Some people say it just to say it. Not Grant, I’ll tell ya.  Losing Gigi felt similar to losing a child in a way. I adopted Gigi when I moved into my first apartment after college. She was with me through many of my successes, failures, challenges and defeats. Gigi was with me when I first fell in love with my wife. She met my children. She was with me when I bought my first house, which is the one I live in today. 

I went to visit my mother’s house that day to let off some steam and try to cope with what happened. I remember I cried so much to the point where I felt numb. It was a hard talk with my mother. 

When I got back home from my mom’s house, I saw a black SUV with tinted windows in the driveway. That happened to be Grant’s car. Of course, at the time, I thought that twas the last thing I needed. I grabbed my keys and unlocked the door and slowly opened it up. When I walked in, it was completely dark. I flipped the light switch up and I saw Grant on my couch, with a little cake on my coffee table along with a gift. He got up from the couch and gave me a nice, big hug. 

“To this day, that was the best hug I’ve ever been given,” I told all of my co-workers. 

“How did he get into your house?” Derek asked.

“I still don’t know! He had his ways I guess!” I responded. 

Everyone chuckled. Grant was a one of a kind human being.