Friday, February 29, 2008

Waiting by the Phone

I’ve never been one much for a lot of phone calls. Even as a teenager, I didn’t spend lots of time chatting with pals on the phone. Between my grandfather’s decline and our house being on the market, however, the phone has all of the sudden become really important in my life. Every time the phone rings, it could be an update on my grandfather or another appointment for our house to be shown and I find myself running to grab it. I’ve realized that I don’t use the phone that much for regular keeping in touch with people; I’m more of an email/IM person, I suppose.

The big phone call we’d been waiting for over the past several days came yesterday. My grandfather died yesterday morning, quietly at home with my grandmother in the room with him. He was aware enough to see my mom and recognize that she was there when she was in St. Louis at the beginning of the week. This weekend I am traveling there, along with the rest of my family in Texas, to be together and to have a service. I know it’s going to be emotional and sad (and I don’t relish emotional tumult), but I am glad that we are all going to be there.

I originally planned to bring Grace with me. She is the youngest relative of my grandfather and I suspected it could be good for all of us to have her there. Also, I haven’t ever been away from her overnight and she’s not totally weaned, still nursing at bedtime, so I am a bit apprehensive about leaving her. (I know, I know, I am a total hippie breastfeeding my 2-year-old.) She has been fighting a cold over the past week that got significantly worse yesterday, though, so we decided that a plane flight would be miserable and possibly bad for her. I will thus soon spend the most time away from Grace that I ever have; I think the most time I have been away from her up until now is probably 7 hours or so. I know that Rob will do a great job with her and showing the house, but it will definitely be a new experience for Rob to be the sole caretaker for such a long time.

In the meantime, it is Snotfest 2008 over here at our house between me being occasionally teary about my grandfather and Grace’s cold. I am definitely looking forward to the day when Grace learns to blow her nose and that is one fewer of her bodily functions which I am intimately involved in. Also, it is paying off this week that we buy Kleenex in bulk at Costco. “More Neeyex!” as Grace would say.

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