A Small Tribute

It's been an emotionally charged week.

As I previously noted, on Monday I went up to Waco to hear Mark Osler's last lecture and to say goodbye and good luck to my professor, mentor, and friend.

There was also a death in the family. Early on Friday morning, my step-grandfather, Jack Lynch, passed away after battling cancer this year.

I first met Jack three years ago at my mom and step-dad's wedding, which was itself an emotionally charged event. He and I quickly hit it off, though, and that made the evening a lot easier. Jack was a larger than life figure. A loud, opinionated, and often very funny Irishman from Chicago, he had a real presence about him. He was a good man who loved his family very much, and though I didn't know him for that long in the grand scheme of things, I'm glad I had the chance to get to know him over the last three years and spend a little time with him.

I have to say, it was really cool to have two grandfathers for a while. I never had the chance to know my paternal grandfather, Ray Close, because he also died of cancer back in 1967. After serving on a destroyer at Normandy, Ray was a part of the American occupation in Nagasaki after the bomb was dropped, and we have always speculated that exposure to radiation from this was a cause of his cancer. From the moment I met Jack Lynch, he treated me like I was his grandson, and was always interested and sincerely cared about what was going on in my life. That really meant a lot to me.

So, in order to pay tribute to the man the best way I know how, this weekend I'm going to eat a steak, drink a bourbon manhattan, and either watch a White Sox game or watch a Cubs game and cheer for those stinkin' Cubs to lose. That's probably what he's up to right now. Here's to you, Jack. We're going to miss you.