Here's something unusual and amazing, not that ironic.  My grandfather died tonight.  He was 93 years old.  Up until he went into hospital 3 weeks ago he was living at home, with my grandmother, with minimal supports.  He still drove a car.  He loved watching rugby on TV.  He went into hospital with pneumonia, and had a turbulent course, improving then declining repeatedly.  This morning he deteriorated again and I spent the day sitting with him and my grandmother in his hospital room, until my aunt and uncle, sister and a few cousins showed up after work, about half an hour before he died.  I basically helped my grandmother make the decision to stop treating him, we switched off the oxygen and started giving him morphine injections to relieve any distress.  He took his last breath as my aunt, his other (living) daughter, who is in France on holidays called my cousin's mobile phone at about 5.15pm.  Trippy.  I deal with injury, suffering, death and dismemberment every day at work, but having been in the room with both of my parents when they took their last breaths, and now having watched my mother's father die in front of me I was stunned by my grandmother's resilience.  She's 87.  While we were sitting with grandpa this afternoon, just the 3 of us, she told me it will be 65 years tomorrow since they got engaged.  In this day and age I find that astounding.  Sixty-five years.  Most of us won't live that long.  If we live that long we won't know anyone that long.  If we know anyone that long it won't be the person we end up marrying.  Today the world saw the end of an increasingly rare relationship.  A marriage that lasted 64 years.  To those of you thinking about getting married, have a think about my grandparents.  They lived through 2 world wars, the Great Depression, the Cold War, lived through poverty and prosperity, raised three children, had eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren, saw humankind evolve for two-thirds of the last century, and they stuck together. Through thick and thin, illness and health, good times and bad.  I can only hope that the spirit and commitment these two embodied is passed on to someone in the future generations instead of the egocentric, selfish, consumerist, nihilist, defeatist culture that seems to be engulfing the masses on earth.  My grandpa called my grandmother this morning before he deteriorated and told her he loved her.  I think we can all learn something from this.