I’m not the type of dude who would ever reprimand my mom for anything, but – ahem – for anyone out there who might even vaguely remember Catie and me, I’d just like to say loud and clear: “WE’RE STILL HERE!!”
Yes. It is true. There was another wedding in September and another stay at the doggie bed and breakfast. It was too brief a stay to plan a trip (I was thinking Alaska might be a nice change from Las Vegas). It was my brother’s turn to tie the knot this time.
Two weeks later mom cooked a turkey on Saturday and gazillions of people came over. Grandpa Rod was supposed to be here but he had to go to the hospital instead. He died the next morning, on Thanksgiving Sunday, October 10.
This meant that MORE people came to our house. Catie was beside herself. I was beside Catie. And Mom was beside EVERYBODY, cleaning and making meals and beds and doing laundry and giving and receiving many hugs. People we haven’t seen forever were here.
Like my oldest brother who came for Grandpa Rod’s memorial. Mom was soooo happy to be reunited with him, let me tell you. It was a sad day but a good day because even though people cried, there was much laughter too. People watched John Wayne movies in Grandpa Rod’s honour. People played the theme song from The Sons of Katie Elder and Moon River by Andy Williams and the greatest hits by The Ray Conniff Singers (we heard Do you Know the Way to San Jose? so many times that Catie and I are indifferent now as to where the heck it is).
At one point during the memorial party I simply had to get away from it all. I discovered – as everyone knows my deductive powers are outstanding – late in the evening that there was a direct and indisputable correlation between the increase of wine consumption and the decibel levels of human voices.
Catie and I were tuckered out for days and days by all the attention and the tumult.
The bottom line is: I’m fine. Catie’s fine – and her whiskers have even finally come back. She just keeps hopping along. The world’s a little different for Mom and Dad and Grandma Ellen because Grandpa Rod is gone but we’re all going to be okay.
I just know it.
P.S. And special thanks to COMET for the PAWESOME header!
And P.S. to Lincoln:
Difficult times have helped me to understand better than before, how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things that one goes worrying about are of no importance whatsoever… Isak Dinesen