How Things Change

I find it strange how quickly things will change. Wednesday, I was happy as the proverbial clam. I received a pair of rain boots from my Grandparents, a late birthday present. I called my Grandmother to thank her. She acted strange on the phone and I asked her what was wrong. She told me that she would have my father call me later. I knew then that something was wrong with my Grandfather, who hadn't been truly well in some time.

As it turns out, I called my Grandmother minutes after my Grandpa passed away. To thank her for boots. He went very quickly. He'd briefly been at the hospital in the morning, with my Grandma and Dad. Grandma said that they hadn't been home for very long when he passed. I am grateful that it was short. It would have been harder on my Grandma if he had been stuck, waiting for something to happen.

I went home on Friday (thus my absence from the blogging world) and the funeral was on Saturday, along with the visitation beforehand. I spoke a few words about my Grandpa at the funeral and managed to get through it fairly well. I was really glad to be there for my Grandma. It is going to be most rough on her. They were married for 58 years. I hope I can pull that off one day.

My dad is part of the volunteer fire department in the town where they all live. The other firemen, in support for my dad and grandmother, decided that Grandpa needed two fire engines to escort us to the cemetery, and two more engines to have traffic stopped on Main Street.

Two engines held the flag aloft while another two engines provided us with an escort to the cemetery.

Overall, I rate it as an 8 out of 10 on the bizarre scale. I have not had to deal with someone dying (that I have been rather close to) in my entire 24 years. It's been strange.

So, the life lesson for this post goes as such (and is a little more serious): Try not to take things for granted. Sometimes things change faster than you thought they could. Also, when you call someone, you should start a conversation out with "How are things?" or "How are you?" instead of, "Thanks for the boots!" in case someone has just passed away.

I suspect my next post will be more cheerful. Fingers crossed for that, cheers.