Family and all that

I took some vacation time to go home and help my grandfather celebrate his 94th birthday.  Huzzah!  Going home, like for most people, can be difficult.  There have been happenings and dynamics on that side of the family, in particular, that make it easy to embrace living about 400 miles away from the crew, and I'm sure that the distance, not just for me, but for two others, is what makes it all the more concentrated and difficult.

Given that our family's main language of love is presence, and given the advanced age of Poppop, it still seemed important to go home, so home I went.  And I was really glad and surprised to be so.  Difficulties weren't there, at least not in the ways I was expecting.  Outside of Poppop obviously not feeling his best (it turned out he has the flu), it really was fun to connect with family members.

I also saw Grandma, and that was a bit of a shock.  She's always been this fiercely independent woman, who now is suffering from dementia and isn't able to walk on her own or talk on her own.  It was truly good to be able to go out and see her, and have her remember me, as well as being on hand to help Mom with cleaning out Grandma's Assisted Care room and all the emotions of the day.

I really felt like crying when I was getting ready to get on the train back to Boston.  I love my family, but it was truly hard to separate myself from them.  I haven't felt that in a long time, and for that I'm grateful.