For Grumpy

Around 5pm on Saturday 19th September 2009, the world became a poorer place. My world crashed, shrivelled, and changed forever. Our beloved Grumpy, Harry Anthony Kobrin (Tzvi ben Shalom) died in Cape Town.

We have been blessed with so many wonderful memories of times that we have shared with you. My earliest memories are of you taking Dee & I down to the beach in Camps Bay, laughing with us as we tried to keep the sand off our granadilla ice lollies.

Your tanned brown skin, your beach chair, and the fire in your eyes.

Your distinctive smell of Badedas and Aramis 900.

Years later, when I would return to Cape Town as an adult, I remember watching you and Wayne picking strawberries in Stellenbosch and recognizing that this moment was precious and indescribable and would be treasured forever.


I am so grateful that you got to meet the man I share my life with, and that you loved him as much as you loved me.

I will never forget the weekend that we shared together last month, and will always cherish our time together watching the rugby, drinking wine and beer, and shouting for Bakkies!

Thank you for the wonderful week that you spent in our home in June. It was an honour and a privilege to have you that close to us for that time.

I love that you took the chance, opened your heart, and took the time to build the relationship that we had after suffering so many disappointments from your family.

Selfishly, I love that you recognized me as your favourite!

I love how your face would light up when we saw you and how grateful you were when we came down to visit you.

I love how when we had our weekly conversations you would refer to me as your beloved granddaughter, and tell me to 'Keep Getting There!'.

I loved listening to your stories (many of them more than once!) about your childhood in Vrede, your experience in the war, your life on the road with your soul mate, your family.

I admire that you died on your own terms, in your own time, in your palace, with your Queen.

I revered your quiet wisdom, and will always hold you in the highest regard.

You were a King amongst mere men, Grumps...

Grumpy - Sunday's will never be the same. I will miss beating you to our weekly phone-call, your words of encouragement, and your love. I hope that wherever it is that you find yourself now has an abundance of fine Villiera wines, a fantastic rugby team, and magnificent sunsets for you to watch.


We miss you so much, and have been so blessed to have shared your life.
Thank you sounds hollow and insufficient when trying to acknowledge all that we feel for all that you have done and all that you have shared with us. So instead, I say "Namaste, Grumpy" ... I greet that place where you and I are one, and I honor the place in you which is of love, of truth, of light and of peace.