A big disclaimer at the top here that I am going to be discussing familial death.
Hello to everyone reading this. Not sure why I am greeting you, the reader. Last week my maternal grandfather passed away. He was in hospice care with bone cancer and overall poor health. The lead up to being admitted into hospice was a sudden and unexpected turn. During my grandfather’s final days, my family set up a computer at the foot of his bed so we could watch shows with him. Regardless if he was awake or not I took time by his side and watched Enterprise. As an important side note, I have always lived with my grandparents (I’m Filipino; this is a cultural thing).
In the week since my grandfather’s passing, I have been rewatching Enterprise. When the show first broadcast in 2001, I was 10-years-old. I grew up watching TNG, seeing First Contact and Insurrection in theaters and going on The Klingon Encounter attraction at Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas. For me, my grandfather was the Star Trek fan who I looked up to. I watched it because he did. So when Enterprise premiered, it was the first series I was old enough to watch in completion during its first run broadcast. I remember my grandfather being excited for “Broken Bow”. He let me stay up late on Wednesdays (and later Fridays if I recall correctly, when the timeslot changed) to watch with him.
Getting to watch Enterprise at the age of 10 to 13 (“These Are the Voyages…” aired four days before my 14th birthday) had a big impact on me. I didn’t realize till later as an adult when I finally took the time to watch all of Classic Trek and then all of New Trek (circa November 2023) how much Star Trek meant to me. You’d be hard pressed to not find me wearing a badge on a daily basis. As a Southern California resident, I drove out to Beverly Hills to attend the advanced screening of the Discovery finale in May. Then in August I finally attended my first convention: STLV.
I am writing this as my way of being reflective. Watching Enterprise with my grandfather is one of the happiest memories from my childhood. I miss my grandfather so much. Each time I watch an Enterprise episode, I feel like a kid all over. This brings me joy during a time of grief. I intimately associate Enterprise with my grandfather.
Someday in the future I want to get a tattoo of the mission patch in honor of my grandfather.
Sorry for your loss!
If I may offer my own experience in sympathy — last year my brother passed after a few years of cancer treatment. We grew up as TNG aired, and Trek was always a shared reference.
During his final illness, one effect of his treatment was constipation which he alleviated with… prune juice. Often in the last months he would raise his glass and say, “A warrior’s drink!” It never got tired 😄
On the night he passed away the only meaningful thing that I could think to share on social media was the TNG screenshot of the Klingon death ritual — I’m sure you know the one.
Star Trek may be a utopian sci-fi future, but the shared stories and communities lend meaning to our everyday lives nonetheless — your deep, shared experiences with your grandfather, or my brother putting up his best Klingon warrior face against his illness. We need those optimistic stories to ward off hopelessness, and to remember the good moments by.
In the face of grief and loss — Qapla’!
What beautiful, bittersweet memories. Thank you for sharing them.
