The Boston Red Sox Won Last Night

The phone rang at 5:57am this morning, and I knew why. Sure, it could have been a neighbor calling about the coyotes that have been very active in the area recently or maybe the cows were loose again, but even those events don’t normally warrant a phone call that early. News like that can (and does) normally wait until later in the day.

Nope, it was my mother calling to tell me that my grandfather died at 1:15 this morning. I was okay at first because I knew it would be any day now, but my mother’s emotion was contagious. I didn’t really know what to say. She told me when she thought the wake and funeral would be, and I told her I could take the time off. But I didn’t know what to say after that. I told her to let me know if there was anything I could do to help, and she thanked me for that. I still didn’t know where to go from there. So I told her that I was thinking about going to visit him again last night or the night before but that we were both feeling sick, so we didn’t want to risk getting him sick. She said that it was fine because he wouldn’t have known we were there anyway. She, her sister, and her brother were there with him the whole time last night. She was glad and grateful for all the time that I had spent with him in the last several weeks. That’s when my emotions started to sneak up on me, but I didn’t want to sabotage her calm. She hasn’t slept yet and she has to go in for at least a half day of work. Then she is off to make the arrangements for Thursday and Friday.

I don’t know if there is anything I can do to help, and I doubt that they will think to call me if there is. I was trying to decide if I could offer a few words during the ceremony, but I doubt I could compose worthy speech in time. I would want to practice it at my Toastmasters meeting tomorrow, but I’d hate to bring the club down with it.

My sister called this morning to check on me, and it sounded like she is faring worse than I am. She was going to go on to call my brother, so I told her to let me know if they wanted to get together. I’ll offer whatever support I can.

I want to thank my aunt and uncle for taking him in and opening their home to us. We were able to come and go as if it were our own home, so that we wouldn’t miss any opportunity to see him. How do you thank someone for that? A thank you card?

I’d better get back to work.