“The hard is the good.”
That was one of my Grandfather Erekson’s favorite sayings. I can remember him saying it many times when my family visited him and Grandmother during my childhood — probably when one of us children was complaining that we didn’t want to do something because it was “hard.”
Grandfather was probably the most self-disciplined man I’ve ever known. Even as he approached his hundredth birthday, he had a daily regimen that he stuck to, as much as his health would allow.
He taught himself that discipline. When he was a young man, he loved the coconut creme cake that his mother used to make. In order to learn to control his appetites, he would take a slice of that cake and place it nearby as he studied. You might suppose that, after finishing his studies, he ate the piece of cake that had been tempting him. But he didn’t. He put the piece of cake back. That’s discipline.
After college, he went to Switzerland to learn how the Swiss made Swiss cheese. While there, he learned to speak German by trading language lessons with students eager to learn English. Because a world cheese conference was being held in Italy, he biked from Switzerland to Rome in order to attend. On his way, he stopped off in Pisa and recreated Galileo’s famous experiment by dropping two pieces of cheese off the Leaning Tower.
Though his name was Arthur Beau Erekson, his friends called him Erek. And when I was born, I was named Eric in his honor.
Grandfather Erekson passed away peacefully this evening. He died at home, surrounded by loving family.
We will miss him. It’s hard to see him go.
But the hard is the good. It was his time, and he has gone to join Grandmother, his eternal companion. He always wished the best for us, and now we wish the best for him. Goodbye, Grandfather. Till we meet again.