Whew! What a week! It's been a busy one, and a sad one. Bad news arrived 2 Fridays ago when I was told my 92 year old grandfather was not doing very well and would probably not make it through the weekend. He has not been well for a couple years now, starting after he suffered a stroke. A second stroke earlier this year really started him on his downward spiral and he went to stay for good at his town's nursing home/hospice facility. So although his death has been imminent since around May or June, it was still very sad and jarring to receive that sad phone call early last Saturday morning saying he had in fact passed on.
The service was Tuesday - a beautiful fall day here in New England. Several Minutemen from his town's organization attended the burial and fired 3 shots in his honor. My grandfather was the one who first organized this group of historians way back when, and he was an active member for many, many years. The church service was well attended. We all gathered to remember the great, exuberant, full-of-life man that was Papa. It was a very nice day, full of tears and fond memories.
While visiting with my family, I met a distant cousin (actually, my grandparents' niece-in-law) who introduced herself to me and told me a little about her own granddaughter. This 9- year old little girl also has spina bifida, she said. She cannot walk, though, as her level of disability is higher on her spine than mine. Apparently, she is not happy to use her wheelchair either, and much prefers being carried to any other mode of transportation. However, as she's getting older, she's also getting heavier, making it harder and harder for her dad to lift her. According to her grandmother, she's not enjoying school very much and is generally feeling very down on herself - I gather, from the simple fact that she is different than her classmates. Unfortunately, I didn't get to talk to my relative for as long as I would have liked, but I hope she was able to observe enough of the good things going on in my life so that she can take the info back to her granddaughter, encouraging her toward a happy and fulfilling life. She just has to learn to give herself a break and let herself live a little. I wish her good luck and happiness - and I look forward to one day getting to meet this beautiful little girl.
The rest of the week went on as it usually does, but "usual" in this house typically means hectic and busy! And so it was, culminating yesterday in a trip into Boston and Faneuil Hall for my husband and I. This trip was partly "business" and partly pleasure. Thankfully it was another beautiful day (after the morning mist wore off) as we walked A LOT, but it was fun to wrap up our adventure with a relaxing lunch at Sam's Cafe at Cheers.
Today we're off to take our Sweetie to see "Chicken Little". There's an afternoon showing, so hopefully she'll take this usually calmer part of her day to sit back and enjoy the film. She's been very interested in all the commercials and seeing some of the promotional toys. So we think she'll do well and have fun. We can't wait to see it to. :)
So, that's about it this week. Sorry I didn't get to post a mid-week entry a few days ago. I hope to get back on track this week. I'll also be busy writing up my December article for Audacity Magazine as well as waiting to see an article of mine appear in the DPPi Journal winter edition - both on-line and in my mail box. As always, you can read my monthly Audacity articles here and, as soon as it's available, I'll be sure to create a link in my sidebar to my DPPi article.
Take care, everyone, and I'll see you in a few days.
No comments:
Post a Comment