Friday, June 6, 2008

For Grandpa

I've been editing a new post and was planning to put it up this weekend but life events have happened, as they do, getting in the way of my plans, so that post will have to wait. This post is dedicated to my grandpa Edgar who passed away on (American) Thursday evening after 94 "innings", as they say here. (It comes from Cricket, not baseball, I've learned today).

People here continually ask me if I miss my family and I explain that, yes, of course I do, but given that I haven't lived nearby in many years, coupled with the wonders of modern technology, it's not as hard as one might expect.

During a time like now, however, this changes. It seems cliche to point out the obvious, that when you have a family life cycle event, its not the words or communication tools that matter but just the presence of family. I have found myself missing being around my family more than I have in the last 3 months, even though we've been communicating the last couple of days- through phone, text and I-M more than we usually do.

Suffice it to say, I felt a "typical" blog entry could wait while I acknowledge this moment in my family's history. Not to mention I need to save my creative juices for the eulogy I'm crafting.

I'm glad I took the extra time- and used the extra gas, environment be damned- to head to NY via Florida when I drove back last February from Colorado. (See the blog entitled Florida, Florida: http://upside-down-nomad.blogspot.com/2008/02/florida-florida.html for more details) He enjoyed showing me around the Florida community- (I'm sure you can all picture it)-he was part of and we had a lovely lunch, interrupted only by the paramedics coming in to save one gentleman from paying his bill (no doubt leaving him with a much larger one, but this is not the place for a discussion on the American Health Care system!)

At the time, he was his usual witty self, explaining that, inspired by John McCain, he'd looked into a presidential bid but decided against it when he could only raise $3.00.

I'll be back with a new posting soon enough...I'm certain Grandpa is looking forward to logging on from wherever he is to see what's going on down under! And I bet he won't have to deal with spam or pop-ups in that utopia!

Till then, root for the Yanks, because Grandpa was a fan:-)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

So sorry to hear about your Grandpa, Sheryl! He was quite a man-- you are very lucky to have had him so long in your life. I know he'll be missed with lots of love!

Cheryl said...

I'm sure your eulogy will be beautiful, Sheryl, and you're so fortunate to have gotten to spend some special time with your grandpa just a few short months ago.

Patrick and Melissa said...

Your grandfather sounds like such a cool guy. I am glad you got to spend some quality time with him before heading off to Aussie. I always root for the Yanks, but I will add a little extra oomf in my cheers just for him. You and he will be happy to know that the Nicas are still holding strong as die-hard Yankees fans. It is difficult to walk down the street without seeing at least 5 Yankees logos!