I've been rather distracted lately and am growing nervous as Thursday approaches. After work on Thursday I will be boarding an airplane headed to Upstate New York. Well, the first plane is heading to Minneapolis where I will transfer to a plane headed to New York City. From there I transfer to one more plane that will take me to Syracuse. In Syracuse I have a rental car waiting for me that I will drive to my destination in the middle of nowhere an hour or so away. Once arrived, I plan on proceeding to sleep on my cousin's couch.
Unfortunately my visit isn't a pleasure trip. My grandma Joan (Mom's mom) is nearing the end of her life here on Earth. As much as I know that she will be in a better place and that I will have the opportunity to see her again... it still pains me. Grandpa Jack (Mom's dad) passed on January 17th. I couldn't believe it nearly 2 months ago and I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around the whole idea that he's actually gone.
In my world, grandparents last forever. All of my grandparents are divorced. Three out of four of them re-married. That left me with 7 grandparents growing up. Where a lot of my friends' grandparents passed away here and there, the odds of mine were greater and none did for the first 24 years of my life. Heading into year 25 and -Sboosh!- there goes one with another following close behind.
When tragedy delivers, it delivers the Sunday edition (big and heavy).
The good drawn from this continuing ordeal is that the relationship I have with my cousin Andy is improving ten-fold. When Grandpa died I called Andy in New York and said, "Look. Someday when we are old and one of us dies, I don't want the other to be sad because of guilt from not knowing the other. I want the other to be sad and cry because of the loss of a loved one, a true friend". Then I informed him that I would be calling every Sunday just to talk.
Life is good despite life itself sometimes.
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