It’s not exactly pleasant to contemplate saying goodbye to our loved ones, but for the most part, the best we can hope for is to bow out on our terms, and with a chance to actually say goodbye.
Maybe that’s why one man’s goodbye to his family struck a chord with the internet and went viral.
Many of us would likely choose a similar scene: being surrounded by family, doing one of the things we could always count on to bring us together, one last time.
For Adam Schemm’s grandfather, it was a simple, down-to-earth thing: having a beer with his sons. Hours before he passed away, Adam took a picture of his grandfather doing just that in the hospital, with his grandfather’s wife holding his hand.
It’s a touching scene, not least because they’re all able to smile and enjoy the moment. And when Adam shared the photo on Twitter, people couldn’t help relating.
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In just the span of a week, Adam’s tweet garnered more than 32,000 retweets and 328,000 likes.
But most importantly, more than 5,000 people chimed in to either share their condolences with Adam or to share their own stories of goodbyes with their loved ones.
Ari Brown, for example, shared his condolences and his own goodbye to his father, saying that even though he couldn’t have a beer with his dad, he was “eternally grateful for every laugh had, every tear shed, and the opportunity to say goodbye.”
One last beer was a running theme in people’s goodbye stories.
Robert Dorsch shared the last beer he got to have with his dad, along with a Yankee game.
And it wasn’t just fathers and grandfathers.
Another Twitter user shared her last shot of Bailey’s with her grandmother, with family smiling all around, in what must have been an emotional moment.
So it seems that Adam started something big by sharing his grandfather’s goodbye beer.
People like Laura Goodman, and all the others, remembered their loved ones and got to share the impact they had on their lives with the world, and it’s all pretty beautiful.
