Thinking back on your life everyone has specific memories that stick out more than the rest. Sometimes it’s because of the person, the events, or something that really stuck with their senses that is refreshed by experiencing it again. In that way Victor is the same as everyone else.

Victor had heard, although he couldn’t remember where, that smell is the strongest sense when it comes to triggering memories. In his case it was a certain type of sound that triggered these memories for him. A sound that he was unable to hear now that he was in another world, because it had to do with some music that he listened to when the memory was just the way life was going.

This was mostly because his grandfather had a career as a professional orchestra member. He wasn’t the first chair at any point in his career, but he was never the bottom chair either. He tended to stay in the third chair position for most of his career, managing to get up to second for a period of time.

Because of this, the sound of the trombone was what managed to trigger memories of his grandfather more than anything else. The sight of it would help but, unlike sound, he had to notice it while the sound could be barely audible and still trigger the memory within him.

Thanks to the fact that he was the only grandparent alive when he had been old enough to have any memories of, Victor wished that he had been able to live long enough to see some of the achievements that Victor had growing up.

The biggest ones so far had been graduating high school and being accepted into college, but at the same time it just made the memories that he did have all the more valuable.

Because of how work could happen suddenly for his father, Victor often found himself suddenly spending the night or going out for the day with his grandfather. They would sometimes just stay at the house or go to a movie or a meal, but there were many times where they did something that took longer.

One of the most powerful memories that Victor had about his grandfather was going to a concert. Although retired, Victor’s grandfather still had friends in the business that had allowed him to get seats easier than most people could.

Because of this, there were certain songs that, while he hadn’t felt a draw to them like his grandfather, had a special place in Victor’s heart.

Beethoven's Symphony number nine was one of them. It was a song that his grandfather had enjoyed playing and would often talk about if given the chance. This was because he liked to point out that, while most people liked to assume that it was the first time that trombones were included in a concert symphony, it wasn’t true.

With how often he had been told about it, Victor knew that it was a common misconception. There was a symphony written in E major written by a Swedish composer named Joachim Eggert that utilized the trombone before Beethoven.

Ever since then trombone music, especially when it played classical music, brought certain memories to the surface.

“The trombone,” his grandpa used to say, “Is the one instrument you can never pretend with. You have to always be on note because, unlike the rest, you can’t rely on others when you lose track of where you are.”

At first, Victor assumed that his grandpa was just a bit full of himself and proud of what he was able to do. Once when he asked about it he was given an explanation.

This was because, as his grandpa put it, the trombone was as much a visual instrument as an audible one.

“When a group of trombones play, just like with every other instrument, you can hear them and sometimes tell when one is playing badly enough. It’s a fact though that if you lose track of where you are, assuming you aren’t in a solo or something else, you can just wait for a bit to find yourself while remaining silent.”

With that, he tapped on the slide of the trombone as he smiled, “See this is the visual aspect of the trombone. Sliding up and down gives this instrument a bit more flair than most instruments have. It lets you give the audience more of a show than a trumpet, or a sax, or a flute.”

“That is a double edged sword. It lets you be more noticed, especially by those closest to the stage who will usually be the ones who are most excited to be there. Because of that, if you play the wrong note it can be noticed twice. Once from the sound and once from the slide not matching the position of all the others.”

Taking his trombone in his hand, Victors grandpa stretched the slide out to the last position and his first.

“As you can see there is a great difference between the two positions,” Victor's grandfather would explain, “If you see all but one of us with the same position that means that person is playing it wrong. At least that better be what’s happening. If only one of us is playing right then there is something really worrying going on.”

It was in this way that his grandfather taught him some life lessons.

“Victor, I am sure you know the saying that there is no I in team, but that is only part of what you need to remember. Because just like I am not in team you are not in team either. That is because you can’t have a team without everyone. That is why when you work as a team you need to remember that together everyone accomplishes more.”

The latter part was something that Victor's grandpa would like to emphasize, but once there was something added. While he no longer remembered the exact wording, the basics of it was that each member of the team has to guide you along. How sometimes, the right choice for the team was to cut off the part of it that was only a hindrance towards everyone's goal.

Another lesson was taught thanks to his grandfather being able to cook, something that he had to do as a single man. It was a skill he emphasized that everyone should have because you never know when you will need it.

“Cooking is, in a lot of ways, like how you live your life.”

“Sometimes you just take what you have and work with it without a plan. Sometimes it fails, but other times, if you know what you’re doing and have a bit of luck, you can make something amazing that you didn’t know you could make.”

“Other times you follow the recipe. This is like when you make a plan for what you want from life. If you stick with it you have a better chance to succeed, but even then it’s not a certainty. There are always things that can go wrong no matter how simple the plan is.”

When this lesson was being taught, Victor watched his Grandpa making something without a recipe. He didn’t remember what it was, but it came out golden brown and smelled like a fruity pie, but a hint of almond to it along with a lingering tartness that felt like it spread slowly over his tongue until it dissipated.

While they ate the treat, Victor was told a few stories about when following the recipe ended up not working. They were stories to teach him that even if you follow the plan, sometimes things can go wrong even if there was nothing wrong with what you did.

The story that stuck out the most was when there was a power outage that suddenly happened while cooking.

Sure it was when his grandfather was new to cooking a single person meal, because he was so used to cooking for two or more when he cooked, but it was a failure because he wasn’t sure how to adjust to finish cooking the partially cooked food.

In the end, rather than trying to manage the meal, he went out for dinner that night.

“While it is good to have a plan you want to follow, sometimes you have to use your backup. Your second plan.”

Once Victor made the mistake of saying plan b to his grandfather.

It was a common enough phrase that was used by nearly everyone, but Victor remembered that his grandfather had a hatred of that phrase.

“Plan b. The most idiotic way to describe a backup plan. Do you know why it is such a bad phrase?”

“It’s because it is limiting,” he would exclaim, “If you go with plan b there might be a plan c or a plan d. That might sound fine, but eventually, you will get to plan z. That is where the limit lies. If you use the alphabet you limit the number of plans you can have. That is why you say your second plan or your back up plan or something that doesn’t limit you.”

“You never know how many failures you might need before you succeed. I’m sure that most, if not all, of the most important inventions and discoveries wouldn’t be around if we only allowed twenty six failures before we stopped.”

One of the strongest bits of advice came from the last time that Victor saw his grandfather.

His face was shallow and sunken and his eyes seemed unable to focus on anyone for too long.

Having been in the hospital for three months already, Victor's grandfather was still there mentally and enjoyed debating with people on different subjects.

When Victor was there that last time his grandpa had just woken up.

He specifically wanted Victor there when they could talk the longest since his body wasn’t allowing him to stay awake too long without needing to rest.

“Victor. I doubt we will ever get to talk again,” he said simply, “That’s why I want to teach you one last thing.”

Victor sat down next to the bed, but couldn’t bring himself to look at his grandpa for too long. Somehow the way he looked and the way he sounded wasn’t what he thought of when he imagined his grandpa. It was the way he talked and the fact that Beethoven was playing on the cd player that made it feel real enough.

This would be Victor’s first time dealing with death and his grandpa knew it.

Sure Victors’ father sold coffins and dealt with the dead, but that is part of why Victor spent so much time with his grandfather growing up. A way to keep him separate from all the death, but with this he knew Victor couldn’t be sheltered from it anymore.

They were all people that Victor never knew existed. He had never had to look at the bodies of someone who used to be a person. He just had a vague idea of what his father did.

That is why Victors’ grandpa wanted to make sure this last lesson could be taught by the first person in Victor’s life who would be able to make use of his father's services.

“Death is part of life. Some say it is the most important part of life. It’s something that we all have to deal with personally.”

“It just so happens it’s my turn to deal with it. Sure I won’t get to see a lot of what you do. I won’t see you get married, or have kids, and I won’t find out if you followed my footsteps in your career, but I don’t need to.”

“I trust you. I trust that you will become someone I can be proud of because I am already proud of you.”

“Regardless of if you work on a plan or just see where life takes you, I’m certain you will make me proud and you will find happiness.”

At this point his grandpa started coughing and drank from a glass that was within reach. Victor was just frozen in place as he waited.

“I’m starting to get tired so just remember this. Death will always happen. Don’t let it hold you tightly. Don’t let it keep you from moving forward. If anything let it push you. Prove that they were right about everything, or wrong if they were an asshole.”

“Prove that my feelings on who you are and who you will be are right because I’ll be watching. Maybe not like I am now, but I’ll know.”

“It may feel pointless but….. It might even be sometimes….. Everyone dies for a reason…..”

His grandpa was silent for a few minutes before he finished, “Make each death you live through worth something. Every connection you make…. Even when the connection breaks part of it remains in your heart. So… Victor….”

Once again he went silent and coughed, pushing a button that made a nurse enter the room to check on him.

As she rushed Victor from the room he heard his grandpa cough out something that was unintelligible, except for one word.

“Love.”

About four and a half hours later, while Victor was sleeping, his grandfather died.

Nothing remains of him except Victor's memories, occasionally triggered by certain senses being stimulated, and a few baubles that were left to him in the will.

They were a great help to him at first, but now he wasn’t in a place where he could go to them, or speak with his family about him.

As it was now, Victor couldn’t help but wonder if his grandpa was still able to watch him. He couldn’t help but hope he still made him proud as he dealt with so much stuff that he never would have imagined to include in his plan.

After all a power outage you could plan for, but being taken away from your entire life wasn’t something that you could expect to make a plan for.