Dad burst out laughing.
So did I.
Grandpa lived several more wonderful years after that surgery.
And whenever I remember that night, I think about how badly I misunderstood my father’s warnings.
All those years, Dad had never been trying to protect me from Grandpa.
He had been trying to protect Grandpa’s fragile heart from the granddaughter he loved too much to push away.
And when Grandpa asked me to sleep beside him that night, he wasn’t asking for anything frightening.
He was simply an old man facing a terrifying morning…
who didn’t want to face his last quiet night before surgery alone.