Jenna tearfully recalls advice grandfather George H.W. Bush gave her before he died

Jenna Bush Hager fought back tears while recalling an empowering message her late grandfather, former President George H.W. Bush, shared with her.

During the June 5 episode of TODAY with Hoda & Jenna, the co-hosts were discussing an upcoming Hulu documentary about designer Diane von Furstenberg. Jenna and Hoda Kotb talked about the importance of living, coping with fear and surrounding yourself with good people, before Jenna pointed to some wise words her grandfather shared with her before his death in 2018.

“It reminded me of this evening I spent with my grandpa and he could barely speak and I was sitting between him and he leaned over to me and he’s like, ‘Don’t forget to enjoy the game,’” she said.

“And it was at the end of his life and at sort of the beginning of mine, relatively. And to hear somebody that had done everything, be like, ‘Don’t forget to be in it,’ to enjoy it, to be part of it, I’ll never forget it,” she continued while tearing up.

“It’s kind of what I want to tell all of us.”

Jenna said she knows it’s difficult to step back and savor things, especially with the minutiae of life, but it’s vital to do so.

“In the middle of it’s hard, right? And there’s tedious moments, but I think what we got to do is that tediousness is the beauty.”

Jenna then said that Hoda was showing her videos of her two daughters as “you prepare for a transition.”

“You could’ve thought, ‘Ugh, they have me up in the middle of the night again,’ but you were in it,” she said.

Hoda marveled at the wisdom that was imparted to Jenna.

“You’re right. But what great advice from him because you always wonder at the end, what are you saying? After you lived a whole life, what are you saying at the very end. And that was it,” she said.

Jenna then added her grandpa would pen messages about how spending time with family made him happy.

“He also wrote us the most beautiful letters when he was in his 70s, 80s, about being together, about how all he wanted was us to come home and that that was what brought him the most joy, was to be surrounded by his grandkids and his family,” she said, as she continued to tear up.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com