We’ve known since back when Gregory was first diagnosed with ALS on General Hospital that his time in Port Charles would someday come to an end. His family and loved ones have known that too. But that doesn’t mean his final days have been easy.

Tracy and Gregory’s talk last week wondering what things would have been like if they’d met decades earlier, seems especially poignant. It was an acknowledgement of their feelings and the reality of the situation. Gregory was dying, and there wasn’t anything they could do about that. Their time together, no matter what, was coming to an end.

And while we were so happy to see Gregory make it through Chase and Brook Lynn’s wedding — with plenty of support from Tracy — it looks like that end has finally arrived.

At the end of Monday, May 20th episode, as Gregory lay in bed, he reflected back over his life, stretching from childhood to saying goodbye to his loved ones after the wedding. His final thoughts were of saying goodnight to Violet, hugging Chase and kissing Finn gently on the forehead.

Then, as we heard Violet’s voice saying “Goodnight, Grandpa,” Gregory closed his eyes, lowered his arm and drifted away. It was touching and heartbreaking. But it was also a beautiful, gentle farewell in a genre that often shocks us with deaths, disappearances and exits.

While this is daytime and there’s always a chance for a return — whether ghostly visits or flashbacks — in sending him off this way, we get the feeling that this is really, truly, the last we’ll see of Gregory. And that’s OK.

Drama is all well and good, but it doesn’t always have to be ratcheted up to a ten for powerful, emotional moments. Gregory got a beautiful end that showed us that while saying goodbye will always be painful, it can also be peaceful.