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I’ve done a lot of traveling recently – far more than I usually do.   It started last Thursday when I got the news that my aunt had passed away.  I was pretty much worthless at work and decided to head to my parent’s house early.

3 hours – work to my parent’s house

The next day, Friday, we drove to central Illinois.

7 hours – parent’s house to illinois

We stayed at a hotel and did some driving around that evening visiting family.

On Saturday, we went to the wedding, then the reception that evening.

Rather than wait in Illinois for the visitation and funeral, we headed back to Ohio on

Sunday.

7 hours – Illinois to Parent’s house.

I decided to stay at their place and we did some yard work on Monday – they took the day off as well.

On Tuesday, we headed back to Illinois went right to the visitation – stopping only long enough to change clothes.

7 hours – parent’s house to Illinois

We stayed the night at my mom’s sister’s house, then went to the funeral on Wednesday morning.  From there, back in the car and back to ohio.

7 hours – Illinois to parent’s house.

It was 9:30 at night before we got in and I decided to travel back to Akron the next morning.

I got up at 4:00 am and drove back to Akron and straight to work, then worked a full day.

3 hours – parent’s house to Akron.

I’m pretty well beat and I can’t imagine that my parents are going back again on Saturday for another wedding reception and then to Pennsylvaina on Monday for a week of camping.

For those of you keeping score at home, that’s 34+ hours in a car in a weeks time for me.  And that doesn’t include the travel around Illinois to visit family.

I think I’ll stay home this weekend.

Last Thursday morning, I got a email at work from my dad.  My aunt had passed away the night before.  It was quiet and peaceful, but that doesn’t make it easier on us.  We were set to travel to Illinois last weekend for her son’s wedding and it looked like we would be visiting for both joyous and sorrowful occasions.

The visitation was rough on her family and they all got tired in the receiving line.  We said our good-byes and waited until it was done.

I had made some origami flowers and gave them to her family before the visitation.  It was a Catholic mass and the church was full of her friends and family.  I broke down a few times and so did my sister and my mom – though my dad was strangely stoic.  I doubt I could have held up so well – and maybe I wouldn’t have wanted to.

After the funeral we joined the procession of nearly 40 cars to go to the cemetery.  My cousins were overwhelmed and I think they just went on auto-pilot.  I saw some relatives I haven’t seen in a while and we all told stories and tried to remember happier times.

I told someone that it was like some of the light had left the world with her passing – but maybe there was some new light in my aunt’s grandchildren and the nieces and nephews running around.

Time keeps on passing and I’m hoping that it helps heal the wounds that my aunt’s family are suffering through.

I got home from work on Friday and found a message on my machine from one of my friends.  Turns out that my former room-mate’s mom was in the hospital with heart trouble.

I changed my shirt, looked up directions, and headed back up to Akron to the hospital.    She was up and walking around a bit and was very happy to see me  – though things were a bit grim.  She’s been having chest pains and had dismissed it as acid reflux – instead, she needs to have open heart surgery.   I sat and visited with her for a couple of hours and during that time she opened up a bit and something remarkable happened.

She just… accepted me.  For exactly who I am.  I’ve been going through a rough patch with my parents lately and this feisty and foul mouthed old lady from the Bronx opened up and said some of the nicest and most welcoming things I’ve ever heard.

Here I was, trying to provide some support for her when she’s facing dangerous surgery – and she’s the one looking after me.  I teared up when she said these things to me and I’ve tearing up now as I remember them.

Her dinner came and I stood to head out and get some food for myself.    I gave her a big hug and she told me she loved me – and I told her I loved her right back.

Funny how my former room-mate turned out to be such a crappy guy – but somehow managed to bring people together anyway.

I’m not a person who prays – but I’ll be thinking of her and wishing her the best.

I recently backed up my computer and wiped it clean – and upgraded from Vista to Windows 7.   I really like the new interface and it’s so strange to have such a clean computer.  It’s so empty I can almost hear an echo.

My room-mate is headed for a job interview in NC tomorrow – I’m taking him to the airport.  One of his former co-workers is heading to Florida and I’m providing shuttle service for him as well on Friday.

One of my next door neighbors asked for some help with a resume and a letter to their HR department.  It was kinda nice to have a professional opinion about something other than computers.

We had a fire alarm go off today at work.  Apparently, there are team leaders and rally points – but the leader for our group was off today.  Since this was the first time we’ve had an “incident” since the program was put into effect, our group just kind of wandered around outside until we got the all clear.

Been playing a game – inFamous 2 – and it has a distinctive moral structure.  Be a good guy and the citizens cheer when they see you and apologize if they bump into you.  Be a villain and they will throw rocks at you and run in fear.   I played through as a hero to start and I’m redoing it as a villain.  I felt bad at first as the villain – but there is a strange kind of efficiency about it.  Less precision – and more destruction.

There was a buzzard sitting in the neighbor’s yard the other day.  It was pretty cool looking and not worried about me – content to let me watch as I swore quietly trying to get my phone to work so I could take a picture.  It was clearly annoyed, however, when a car pulled up and stopped so the occupants could stare.  It took to the air and flew up to land on the neighbor’s roof.   The car left, I went back inside, and the buzzard went back to just being a buzzard.

I learned how to make an origami flamingo – in pink paper of course.  I’m also working on learning the elephant.  It’s less… precise than I normally like with my folding, but I finally got a working prototype.

I went to Border’s last weekend – I had a gift card to burn and wanted to get in while they still had a selection.  The lines at the checkout were long, but I got some good deals.  It’s too bad they are going out of business, I really liked the stores.

I guess that’s it for now.

I got a call from my dad last night – his sister is not doing well.  She’s been fighting a brain tumor for some time now and has taken a sudden decline.  The doctors have stopped talking about treatment options and are now talking about making her comfortable.  I guess we’ve all known she was on borrowed time since the diagnosis, but it’s even more unfortunate that this is happening now since one of her sons is getting married soon.  Dad told me that the videographer has promised to have the DVD of the wedding ready the day after – so that my aunt can see it since it’s unlikely that she would be strong enough to go.

I remember when my aunt got carded for beer on her 40th birthday.  I remember she and I gently mocking her sister-in-law over the amount of candles in her house.  I remember lots of laughs from my zany aunt.

So, I’ll remember the good things and all the fun –  and when it’s time, I’ll go and help her family say goodbye.

I swam yesterday at lunchtime and it was co-co-cooooold.  And it stayed cold – I never did get used to it.  I guess it’s a combination of the hot water being turned off in the building and the high temp outside for comparison – but it was really uncomfortable.  I got in my laps, swam pretty well, and got the heck out of there.  Since the hot water is off – I skipped the shower and just got some lunch and went back to work.

Yesterday evening I went to give blood.  I had signed up for a double-red and after a little confusion about if I was eligible, I was hooked up to the machine and on my way.  No real problems to report, but it was a little weird.  I got chilled when the plasma and saline were pumped back into me and I got a weird taste in my mouth from the anti-coagulant.  It also made my lips tingle.  The woman in charge of the machine offered me some Tums and that helped counter-act it.

My room-mate had the air conditioning on when I got home and I was a little chilly around the apartment that evening.  Weird that in the middle of summer – I got chilled to the bone three times in one day.

One of the downsides to my office is a complete lack of windows.  I’ve got a walk to the other side of the building just to see what is going on outside with the ever changeable Ohio weather.   Today, it was rain.  A lot of rain.  As in “pouring buckets”.  I was soaked to the skin in moments.  Which, in a way, was okay since I was  headed up to the pool for a swim.   After only a  few minutes of my walk I wondered it I should skip getting changed and just swim in my clothes since they were totally soaked.  I finally get to the pool and as I’m checking in, the girl at the desk says I need to sign the waiver again and get my photo retaken – since they’ve changed their system.  So, I go through that – wondering how they are going to use the photo to recognize me next time around.  Will I have to dunk my head in a bucket of water before I can check in?

I swam my laps in a reasonable time and debated for a moment the wisdom of drying off before putting on wet clothes.  When I got outside, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining.

Welcome to Ohio.

The neighbors had us over for a cook-out this past Saturday.  The food was good and the company was fun.   We played some Bocce and a little badminton – and I helped chase some fireflies with their granddaughter.

On Sunday, I took myself for a couple of walks and covered maybe 5 miles or so.  Had Chipotle for dinner – which was awesome as usual.  Went to see the fireworks show in the area – but we were in a bad spot and only saw the top half of the show.  The trees were in the way.

Pretty quiet weekend – which is good, but I think I need to add a bit more adventure to my weekends.

My room-mate went in for surgery this morning to get a hernia repaired.  His “innie” belly button had turned into an “outie” and he was hurting pretty bad.  The surgery went quickly and the surgeon came out and updated me – the hernia was only 2 mm.  The real problem was lot of fluid build up.    He’s doing better  and resting at home now.

The real fun – for me at least – came when I went to get his prescription filled.   I went to the pharmacy and dropped off the scrip.  They realized that the scrip didn’t have a date on it.  So they called the hospital – and found out they were all gone for lunch.  At the same time.

So, the assistant offered to call when they got back  – I went to lunch myself.  I went back over 15 minutes after the appointed time – and they hadn’t called yet.  The assistant called and then found that the insurance wouldn’t cover it – and/or it had already been filled.  Which it wasn’t.  So, she then had to call the insurance company and about 20 minutes later she finally got it sorted.

Back to work early tomorrow morning – got a busy day of work before the weekend.

On Monday, my co-workers wife stopped by with their baby for lunch.   We ate outside at one of the picnic tables and their little one was having a great day.  She ate some puffs, showed off her 4 teeth with lots of smiles, and rough-housed with her daddy.  We had to go back to work far too soon, but it was a nice visit.

I got a surprise later in the day when my sister called and said they would be in town on their way back from a camping trip.  I left work a little early and they spent a little time at my apartment before they had to get back on the road.  My niece is in full explorer mode and once she got over a little shyness, she was pushing a toy car around and gathering coasters.  She’s got squeekers in her shoes  – it made the running around extra adorable.   Not that I’m biased or anything.  It was good seeing my sister and brother-in-law too and I wished they could have stayed longer or had dinner with my room-mate and I – but they still had a 3 hour drive to go.

So, it was a good day for babies.  I needed it too – work has been a steady stream of disasters since I got back.  I’m hoping our meeting gets canceled today so I can get a little further along in my futile attempt to get caught up.s