It's hard to believe that I'm back at home in CA again. Less than a month ago I was still a student at Ohio State and preparing for graduation and the culmination of two years abroad... err out of state. A lot has happened since then. I graduated, of course. President Obama spoke at my graduation, which was a mix of great advice to start and campaign speech to finish. So half good. I moved out of my apartment, packed everything I couldn't live without into my car, and Cali Foodie and I drove across these United States. After a week of driving which featured sights like Mother Mapster's living room in Indy, the St. Louis Arch, Beale St in Memphis, the French Quarter in New Orleans, Carlsbad Caverns and good ol Los Angeles, we were home. (travel blog in progress). I've spent the last two week living at home though not without partying it up with Naysayer P Squirrel; La Familia including Mama G, Bridges, Spam Boa, Kareen, Nemesis, Alejandro Brock and Clark; my own real family; Dungeon Daddy, Heavy Spy, Tenshi and Micki Granger; and of course a Disneyland trip with Cali Foodie among other adventures, its been kinda a busy return home. It feels a lot like my spring/winter break trips back: cram a bunch of stuff in as fast as you can before you leave again. Only this time I'm not leaving. And that. is. wonderful.
It was good I was home too. The day after I returned, I visited my grandmother in the hospital a week after her stroke. At 94, Grandma had been asking, I'd go so far as to say pleading with God to take her home for the last 5 years. My grandfather had died 10 years before from Parkinson's disease and my grandma did not want to become a burden. By Thursday two weeks after the stroke, her condition worsened and we were keeping 24 hour watch. When I said goodbye on Thursday night she said I love you to me and my siblings. I came back to keep vigil on Friday and she had slipped into a coma, ending two weeks of pain. I left at 830. She passed at 10:30 quietly with her eldest living son, her comfort, by her side. I realized afterward that the stroke happened almost to the HOUR 10 years after my grandfathers death, dying two weeks later. Drew York summarized it best: Grandpa finally came back to get her but he forgot how long it takes women to get ready for the party.
Its been a wild month. I think about my grandma, the life she lived. She say the Depression, the end of Prohibition, WWII (married a Vet), grew up in New Orleans with a French speaking mother (yeah, we are THAT French) moved to CA and saw Los Angeles grow and change, Malibu where her home was go from the middle of nowhere to millionaire's suburban dream. Saw people land on the moon, fight in Vietnam, and the rise and fall of the Berlin wall. WOW! Yet the most important things in her life were her five sons, twelve grandchildren, nine great grandchildren, and the adopted daughters and spouses of grandchildren. In the last week in the rehab center where she passed, they said they had never seen such a devoted family, spending so much time with someone who was sick. I am the man I am today because she was the woman who raised my father, matriarched our family, our religious stalwart, and the woman who gave me a great perspective on the world: calm down. She's seen so much and we freak out over the change of a Facebook layout. Keep the important things close and happiness will follow. It is hard to say goodbye. It's hard to see your dad cry. It's hard to see a sister who is dying say goodbye to another sister who just beat her to it. It's funny how grief works, manifests in all of us differently. But that's life. Calm down and live it.
So, as I move back to CA, I don't have a job yet. I don't have any money. My family just lost an important member. I don't know what's coming. But I'm so blessed. It's all going to be fine because I'm surrounded by some very important people. People I need. My parents, my siblings, some of my best friends in the world, Cali Foodie, and the sense of comfort and stability that was fleeting but never permanent in Ohio. I dearly miss Dandy Woo, Powder Climber, CC, Tall Bear, and Hopeful Introspective. But this is where I need to be. I know that and have seen that over the last weeks. Calm down and live it. It's all going to be fine. Welcome home.
-JTY
Listening to: Can't Hold Us- Macklemore and Ryan Lewis
Reading: Great Gatsby- Fitzgerald. Cuz why not?
Playing: Legend of Zelda- Skyward Sword I am so happy I finally got this.
