Weekend Things

As I mentioned Saturday was our one year anniversary at the pub. Sadly, I didn’t get to sing. I was on the fence about it anyway because I’m fighting with laryngitis right now. When we got to the pub we found out there were loads of reservations. It was expected to be insanely busy and not the usual crowd. So, I was told maybe I could open the show depending on the mood of the crowd, but that I definitely couldn’t play my usual slot. Since I’m new to performing and still making mistakes they’re being really sensitive about making sure I play to a crowd that will be patient and supportive. I ended up not playing at all, which was fine because even I could tell that it wasn’t the right crowd. It ended up working out since I’m still struggling with getting my voice back. It meant though, that I didn’t have my chance to use the mic to say a few words like I had wanted to. We ended up saying something to Dave when he sat down at the bar with us at the end of the night. He got excited so he shared a round of Scotch with us to celebrate.

In other news my Grandfather on my Mom’s side passed away on Friday. It was expected, so it wasn’t a shock when she told me. I was at the pub watching an Irish band with some friends when my Mom contacted me. It wasn’t a surprise, so I brushed it off in the moment, but that realization that another family member who has always been there is gone sank in on my drive home later in the night. I hate growing older, but only because everyone else is growing older too. It sucks. Anyway, he had ALS. My Mom texted me just a few days before we left for Grand Cayman and told me he was at the end. His lungs were weakening, he couldn’t speak in more than a whisper so we passed some words back and forth through my Mom. It’s weird to be able to say goodbye to someone who knows they’re in the process of dying. I’ve only ever dealt with dying people when they were to the point of not being coherent anymore. He was calm and ready to go though, he’s been ready for awhile and has been just waiting for his body to finally give out. He lost consciousness a couple of days later, then didn’t actually pass until Friday. It’s hard to be so far from family at times like these, but the whole time he was able to be at home and surrounded by family who were coming and going in shifts as they were able. I saw him last summer when I went back to Oklahoma. At that point he had completely lost the use of his arms, but was still able to stand and move about. He slowly lost more and more over the past year and a half. ALS is a really terrible disease, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

My Mom told me not to come down. They’re not having a funeral and the little celebration of life they’re having is the day after my birthday. I was never all that close with her parents, there was no animosity or anything, we just never really bonded even though my Mom took me to see them almost every Sunday when I was growing up. It’s that way between me and all of my Mom’s family though, we just don’t have much in common but we do talk a bit and keep each other updated. It’s like you care and love the people, but you’re just not good friends. I don’t know, it’s kind of strange. Anyway, my Mom said she would rather just see me for a happier occasion and not have me cancel any birthday plans to come to Oklahoma for this.

As far as my birthday, that’s on Dec 2^nd. My husband often takes me somewhere for the weekend, but I told him not to this year because we just went to Cayman. So, we’ll go to the pub as usual. I do know that my husband made Dave aware that my birthday is coming up and Dave is now making some plans. I have no idea what will go down, but I’m sure it’ll be cool. I tried to get my husband to tell Dave that I would like him to have the Proclaimers fly in from Scotland for a private concert at the pub. Yeah…well…a girl can dream.

Anyway, have a great week everyone!