Julie Jay: Saying goodbye again as another beloved grandparent dies

The death of my father in law is a reminder that things can change so quickly, and that grief, as a friend so accurately put it, is a beast.

Julie Jay: Grief is the hardest thing any of us will go through, and yet it is also one of the few things that will touch us all at some point. Picture: iStock

This week, we lost another beloved grandparent: My father-in-law died. It is still difficult to wrap our heads around, and we are all so sad that he is physically gone. But, of course, when it comes to the big stuff, delivering the news to the children is never easy.

When I initially told my nearly six-year-old that his Daideo had died, I had expected him to be upset, but his devastated reaction stunned me. Eamon hadn’t been well and the children were aware of that, having seen his decline for themselves. They also saw it in other older family members previously and knew what way it had gone for them.