So it's been a long time since I posted anything... because life has been a little too hectic to remember to take the time to post anything. So I figured I'd give a brief (as brief as I can) update on what's going on.
My grandfather has been pretty sick, and so last weekend my dad and I traveled up to Indiana farmland to say our goodbyes to him. My mom had already flown up a few days before, and my brother also flew up briefly to see him. In the one week I was there, we said our last words to my Pappy, spent the first 2 days watching my grandfather's health fail him until he finally passed on (died in the same home he was born in, 75 years earlier), spent another 3 days dealing with all that comes with that, then 2 days for the calling and the funeral, and I left the next evening to get back home. It was a pretty intense week... since I live so far away I don't get to see my family up there very often, and there's a LOT of family up there... many of whom I don't know or hardly know. With so many friends and family coming to visit with my grandfather's death, though, we spent a lot of time visiting and getting reacquainted with people... for the first few days there was almost ALWAYS company over from the time I woke up until just a couple hours before going to bed.
It was a really important week. I was really greatful to be able to see my Pappy one last time, and to be there for all that followed. He was a strong believer and in his last week did not seem to have any fear of what was to come... he knew that it was time for him to go to heaven, and he had no doubt that's where he was going. Just hours before he died we believe he started seeing Jesus sitting with him, because he kept pointing and my mom and my aunt at one point heard him say "Jesus" as he pointed. He also gave a thumb's up as he gave his very last breath.
I guess because I knew he was weary of this world, and knew he was going Home, I didn't have such a hard time with his death as I would have if we weren't prepared for it. So I was able to enjoy and treasure the other important thing that happened on this trip - getting reacquainted with my family there. Great Aunts and Uncles, grandma, aunts and uncles, cousins, second-cousins and our "honorary-cousin." We played cards and laughed and joked and ate lots of meals together. I shared music with my 17-year-old cousin and talked to the boys about what to think about for college in the next couple years. We played with kittens and laughed at dogs and watered plants and planted a tree and pulled corn stalks where they didn't belong and plotted how to catch a rouge chipmunk and ate cookies as fast as my mom could bake them.
While all this was going on, Chris was scrambling back at home to get everything ready for the premiere of our movie in Cleveland, and Wednesday night he and our good friend Angela drove up to Cleveland for the World's Largest PEZ Convention. They spent the weekend selling shirts and other merch and pre-selling DVDs, screening the movie, and hanging out with PEZheads. They'd call me with questions when necessary, and kept me updated. Then Saturday evening they made their way 4 hours south-east to where I was at my grandmother's house, had dinner and hung out for a couple of hours, and then the three of us drove all night and into the next day to get home.
One day later, the apartment is trashed and I'm doing my best to get things cleaned up and organized and back to normal, I go back to Vidalia tomorrow for work, but I still feel exausted from the long drive and just the jolt of everything that's been going on... I could have slept all day, but that wasn't an option. Just trying to get back in the groove of things.
This next weekend is Tiffany's wedding in West Virginia... that will be another 9 hours up and 9 hours back in 2 days time. This time with new company... my old friends Amy and Paul are both carpooling with me, so that will be fun. I just hope I'm well rested for another weekend out of town.
