My Tuesday

Today was kind of a big day.  So I decided to post about it.  I hope you'll indulge me.

Before I woke up I was dreaming that I was one of my high school friend's best man in his wedding.  Lets call him "The Ginger."  Now, in real life The Ginger is not engaged nor is he in a committed relationship, so why it was his wedding I have no idea.  Needless to say everything was going wrong.  (It was a dream after all.)

I was awakened by a phone call.  My phone was downstairs.  By the time I got down there the phone stopped ringing.  It was my older sister calling.  I grabbed the phone and walked upstairs.  The Wife woke up when I did and checked facebook.  When I came back into the bed room she told me what my older sister was calling about:

I called my older sister back.  She was surprised that The Wife found out via facebook.  I hadn't asked who posted it yet but it was my mother, (It was her father that passed.)  We talked a bit and she told me that my mother was working today.  She just started a new job and only has two vacation days.  She decided to save them for the service.  My sister asked if we were going to visit my family in Albuquerque.  I replied saying that we'd do everything we could once the service was planned.  I could tell that my sister was tearing up while we were talking.

I tried to call my little sister and mother, but wasn't able to get a hold of either of them.  I talked to them later in the afternoon.  My mom is doing OK, but she says she always knew that he was there if she were to call.  It's odd for her now that isn't true.  Apparently my grandmother is holding up alright.

My little sister called while I was on the phone with my mom.  Apparently my mother and older sister tried to get a hold of her but failed.  She learned when her soon-to-be mother in law sent her a text message:  "Sorry about your grandpa."  To which she adequately replied "WHAT?!?"  She was the most broken up which isn't surprising.  She had the least amount of time to deal with it.  Also, she is by far the most sensitive of the three of us.  Her heart isn't on her sleeve.  Her heart IS her sleeve.  She has a heart sleeve.

The Wife e-mailed her TA professor and told him what had happened.  She wanted to stay with me today.  We got up.  We had lunch.  We voted.  And the whole time The Wife was very supportive.  All in all it kind of looked like this:

I really appreciated it, but I don't know how necessary it was.  Here is a pictorial representation of my emotional reaction to the news.

I can't explain why, but I haven't broken up.  All of my family members that I have talked to were fighting back tears on the phone, so why aren't I?  Maybe it's because I have been expecting this for a while.  But then again, he hasn't been in good health for years.  I'm not the only one who has been expecting it.  I don't know why it hasn't hit me yet, and I'm feeling guilty that it hasn't.  I loved him very much and I genuinely enjoyed the little time we spent together, so why can't I get worked up about his passing?  Either it will hit me harder once I get to New Mexico or I'm broken.  We'll see which.

 While it's customary to say "rest in peace," I don't think that fits my grandpa.  When he was in good health he was a pretty jovial, unpredictable guy.  I remember he and his wife taking vacations and having fun.  Here's a typical grandpa story:

One day, before my grandma left for some reason I can't remember, he told her "I'm thinking about looking at a van," and my grandma replied, "...ok."  Well, when she came back home a van was sitting in the driveway.  "Did you buy a van?"  My grandma asked.
 "Yes.  I told you I was."
"You said you were thinking about looking at a van!"
"Well I did.  And I liked them, so I bought one."

There's only one thing I can think saying of when it comes to him:

Theodore Van Bastian III

1925 - 2011

Keep on Rocking