Thursday, April 16, 2009

Grandpa.... and my vacation

I'm not sure if I mentioned, but I've been out of town since the 1st of April. I first went to LA to hang with friends and go to my best friend's wedding. I booked my next flight late, so I had to wait 'til the 13th to leave LA and head to Portland to see my grandfather. When I called my uncle, I was informed that my Grandfather had been in the hospital for the last week and a half.
I got into Portland Monday night and my wonderful friend, Brian over at Scapegoat Tattoo picked me up and we went out to eat at the By and By. (Not sure how it's spelled or anything, I mean,I could look it up, but I don't feel like it.)
Anyway, I had a vegan meatball sub and collard greens. It was scrumptious. Next we went to Voo Doo Donuts and I had my first vegan doughnut. And I couldn't tell you when the last time I actually had a doughnut was. Maybe, 5 years ago. This one was a jelly filled man with a chocolate glaze. Oh man.... so good.
Then we went back to his place and passed out. In the morning, we walked over to SweetPea Baking Company and had some lunch/breakfast. I had the UnChicken salad Sandwich, which of course was fantastic and had lots of mustard on it. It was made of TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein).
While waiting for my uncle to pick me up, I went over to Food Fight Grocery to buy some essentials I didn't bring with me and then my uncle arrived with his wife.
From there we went straight to the hospital in Clackamas, OR. I'm going to to have to skip a bunch of stuff, because I don't have much time, and I don't want to cry all over my computer and in the middle of this starbucks.
We sat with my grandpa for a few hours. My uncle, Bruce, his wife, Mary, my grandpa's wife, Ann, and her friend Pam, were all there holding his hands and talking to him in between his naps.
This was Tuesday. After the hospital, we went back to Bruce's and I stayed the night there. Wednesday we woke up, had oatmeal, and went on over the hospital where we met Ann and her friend Pam, who were already there. This was at 11:30am. We ended up staying until about 6:30pm. During which, grandpa's friend, Bernie stopped by and shortly after the Pastor of his church and his wife showed up.
Most may know, I'm not religious. I don't believe. But, I bit my tongue and held hands respectively while the Pastor said some words.
That morning, Grandpa decided he had had enough of the tubes and such. He asked to be taken off them and didn't want anymore pain medication. We convinced him, he should be comfortable and agreed to the morphine and also requested some anxiety medication for his nerves.
We had planned on coming back this morning to get a picture of his tattoos so I had a reference to draw from, and also to get a picture of me and him, in his navy uniform, at his request.
We left the hospital and went back to Ann's (I had decided to stay with her because she wasn't sleeping much and I wanted to make her dinner). Bruce and Mary ended up coming over also. I made my famous tomato sauce with chunks of squash, zucchini, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes, green bell peppers and garlic over angel hair pasta. I also made some garlic bread to go with it.
After dinner, I had homemade cookies ready to be scarfed. They didn't last long and today the last one was finished off.
At 10:21pm, the phone rang. Ann had finally gotten to sleep and everyone was resting trying to get the food settled because we all seemed to eat too much.
I answered, and it was the hospital. I thought it was some billing of something. I said I was Wally's granddaughter and the woman on the other line, with out warning, says, I've been trying to get a hold of you to inform you that you grandfather passed away about 30 minutes ago. With a gasp, I said hold on and handed the phone to my his wife, Ann. Which of course, went about the same and she handed the phone to Bruce.
I sat crying with Ann for a bit. And then immediately got up and called his friend Bernie, before it got too late, so that he wasn't surprised when he arrived at the hospital in the morning. He then called the Pastor and the church phone tree was alerted.
Today, my duties involved writing and Obituary, calling his last living relatives and Navy buddies. I got to call Haysi, VA, where he's from and spoke to his cousin, Virginia (yes, Virginia in Virginia) for about 30 minutes. And she couldn't have been nicer. She said so many wonderful things about my grandfather, Johnnie (goes by Johnnie back in VA and KY, but goes by Wally, here in WA). That's when it hit me. I've been in a daze and crying off and on since then. That's about 5 hours now.
I'm planing on going out to meet them soon as well. I sorta feel like I should just go straight there from here, so that I can save on a flight.
All I want to do at this point in crawl in bed and play on the internet, talk to friends about nothing, and watch drew carey episodes. But alas, the internet over at Battle Ground Mobile Home Park is not letting me connect.
So I walked down the street to Starbucks and am sitting here crying in public. Anything is better than crying in front of loved ones that will want to hug me and try to make me feel better. I just have to have time for myself right now, so heal, and think. But, of course, Starbucks doesn't stay open all night, and I'm being kicked out so they can begin the clean up and go home.
Tomorrow, I will have to be sending the obituary and probably call his cousin again to ask some questions.
Thanks for listening, it's time to pee, before my walk home in Battle Ground.... ugh....