Yes, I'm back. I've had a pretty rough couple of weeks, but I'm starting to get my life back on track. As someone said in the MTC show I attended right before I went home: "worst spring break ever."
*Disclamer: The following is about the events leading up to and following the death of my grandpa, and I feel like it'll help me to write about it, so if you don't want to read it just skip the next 6 paragraphs.
The night I got home (around midnight) my mom woke up and came downstairs to tell me that my grandfather had gone back to the hospital again, this time he wasn't going to make it past the week. She started crying, which she'd never done around me before, so I just said "oh mom it'll be okay" and hugged her. Apparently the cancer had spread to his lungs and they are slowly filling with some kind of liquid he can't get rid of, so he had to be brought to the hospital so they could give him some help with the oxygen.
The next morning I went to visit him and he seemed pretty well. He was awake and joking with us, like always. The doctor told him he could go home for his 3 or 4 final days, and he goes "Good! A vacation for my last days!" He seemed to be doing okay at that time so I just went home. Well by the next morning he was doing a lot worse, and I spent most of the day at the hospital. He was barely awake, when he was he couldn't speak, and he could only eat ice cream. It was so hard for me to be there and see him like that, so much so that I was starting to feel claustrophobic and went to see Joe at his house that night. Well apparently that wasn't the best idea because as I was there watching "The Practice" my grandfather passed away.
Apparently the priest was in the process of saying a prayer to him when he just merely stopped breathing. From what I've heard he died very peacefully, and my mom, grandmother, and cousin were all there with him. Before he passed away, my grandpa asked that me and my cousin Lauren say a eulogy at the funeral. I didn't really think that I could get through it because I was almost constantly crying, so we decided to say it together so we could be strong for each other.
In the meantime, there were over 400 people that attended the wake, a large front page article about him in the paper titled "Genevan was well-liked by everyone" (http:// www.fltimes.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=4096&SectionID=38&SubSectionID=121&S=1)and enough food delivered to my grandmother's house that she had to invite the whole family over for dinner a few times.
Lauren and I wrote the eulogy together and spoke our different parts at the funeral without a hitch. We both sounded very strong up there and didn't start crying until we sat back down. I think he was with us, making sure we did everything right. Some of my friends showed up at the funeral, friends that I don't really hang out with often but still consider them close friends. I was so moved that they wanted to be there for me, and I'm glad they came.
After the day of the funeral, things have been going better. I still find it weird being in my grandmother's house, especially when I see things like his slippers laying around, like he's still around and going to come out of some other room any minute. My brothers took a bunch of his clothes and some of his suits for themselves, but the only thing I took was a hat I brought back to him from my visit to Martha's Vineyard. He wore that hat every day while he was going back and forth from the hospital, and even if he had to go to the emergency room he wanted the hat with him. I feel like that hat was my special bond with my grandpa, so I have it now.
I wish everyone knew my grandfather. He was, and is, the man I respect the most in the entire world.
I went back to school last sunday, and on monday I had my all day orientation for my job at Strong. Well the orientation wasn't at Strong, it was at the Memorial Art Gallery about 10 minutes from Strong. After spending 8 hours in a room listening to stupid shit like "The Power of One" speeches, I went to my car to find that my driver's side window had been smashed into a thousand pieces, and my new cd player that my mom got me for Xmas was stolen. Of course I didn't know what to do, so I sat in the passenger seat and started crying. The girl parked next to me saw me and stayed with me until I called the police. She also gave me a blanket from her car to sit on until I could clean the glass properly. Some guy that worked at the Art Gallery happened to have a huge thing of plastic and some tape and taped up the window.
I drove back to Geneseo, not being able to see out of my side window, and with no radio. The next morning my father and brother came to get the car and fix it. Keith was so cute, he got all mad and now he thinks it's not safe for me to work in Rochester. My mom felt bad and said she'd buy me a new radio, but it was 100 dollars and I really feel bad that she wants to waste 200 dollars on me.
As if my life at this point isn't bad enough, a day later I found out that someone had been using my telephone pin number to call out of state and charging it to my telephone bill. So I had to file ANOTHER police report and got my money back after a few more hassles.
To end on a good note, I went out for St. Patrick's Day and had a good time bar hopping. I saw Tim Conheady out, which probably wasn't the best thing, because I had a crush on him freshman year and had been wanting to tell him about it. (For some reason I find it imperative to tell every person I've had crush on that I liked them at some point) So even though I have absolutely no interest in him right now, I went up to him at The Statesman and told him that I liked him freshman year. He was like "that's actually pretty cool" and that's about it. Of course he's in one of my classes so I had to see him the next morning. He didn't say anything to me though.
Last night I went with a bunch of people to the Geneseo Drag Ball. I really love going to gay events because people are so accepting, it's the one place I feel that I can dance and not care. I took pictures of a few of the drag queens, they were really good performers. My friends that have never been to a show had a good time too. Oh yeah! I also got my belly button pierced yesterday afternoon. I'm so glad I did it, and I should have done it earlier. It looks really cool and I love it.
Tonight I'm going to a birthday party for Pat's friends Davey and Janelle. I know both of them pretty well so I'm excited. It can only get better from here, right?
*Disclamer: The following is about the events leading up to and following the death of my grandpa, and I feel like it'll help me to write about it, so if you don't want to read it just skip the next 6 paragraphs.
The night I got home (around midnight) my mom woke up and came downstairs to tell me that my grandfather had gone back to the hospital again, this time he wasn't going to make it past the week. She started crying, which she'd never done around me before, so I just said "oh mom it'll be okay" and hugged her. Apparently the cancer had spread to his lungs and they are slowly filling with some kind of liquid he can't get rid of, so he had to be brought to the hospital so they could give him some help with the oxygen.
The next morning I went to visit him and he seemed pretty well. He was awake and joking with us, like always. The doctor told him he could go home for his 3 or 4 final days, and he goes "Good! A vacation for my last days!" He seemed to be doing okay at that time so I just went home. Well by the next morning he was doing a lot worse, and I spent most of the day at the hospital. He was barely awake, when he was he couldn't speak, and he could only eat ice cream. It was so hard for me to be there and see him like that, so much so that I was starting to feel claustrophobic and went to see Joe at his house that night. Well apparently that wasn't the best idea because as I was there watching "The Practice" my grandfather passed away.
Apparently the priest was in the process of saying a prayer to him when he just merely stopped breathing. From what I've heard he died very peacefully, and my mom, grandmother, and cousin were all there with him. Before he passed away, my grandpa asked that me and my cousin Lauren say a eulogy at the funeral. I didn't really think that I could get through it because I was almost constantly crying, so we decided to say it together so we could be strong for each other.
In the meantime, there were over 400 people that attended the wake, a large front page article about him in the paper titled "Genevan was well-liked by everyone" (http:// www.fltimes.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=4096&SectionID=38&SubSectionID=121&S=1)and enough food delivered to my grandmother's house that she had to invite the whole family over for dinner a few times.
Lauren and I wrote the eulogy together and spoke our different parts at the funeral without a hitch. We both sounded very strong up there and didn't start crying until we sat back down. I think he was with us, making sure we did everything right. Some of my friends showed up at the funeral, friends that I don't really hang out with often but still consider them close friends. I was so moved that they wanted to be there for me, and I'm glad they came.
After the day of the funeral, things have been going better. I still find it weird being in my grandmother's house, especially when I see things like his slippers laying around, like he's still around and going to come out of some other room any minute. My brothers took a bunch of his clothes and some of his suits for themselves, but the only thing I took was a hat I brought back to him from my visit to Martha's Vineyard. He wore that hat every day while he was going back and forth from the hospital, and even if he had to go to the emergency room he wanted the hat with him. I feel like that hat was my special bond with my grandpa, so I have it now.
I wish everyone knew my grandfather. He was, and is, the man I respect the most in the entire world.
I went back to school last sunday, and on monday I had my all day orientation for my job at Strong. Well the orientation wasn't at Strong, it was at the Memorial Art Gallery about 10 minutes from Strong. After spending 8 hours in a room listening to stupid shit like "The Power of One" speeches, I went to my car to find that my driver's side window had been smashed into a thousand pieces, and my new cd player that my mom got me for Xmas was stolen. Of course I didn't know what to do, so I sat in the passenger seat and started crying. The girl parked next to me saw me and stayed with me until I called the police. She also gave me a blanket from her car to sit on until I could clean the glass properly. Some guy that worked at the Art Gallery happened to have a huge thing of plastic and some tape and taped up the window.
I drove back to Geneseo, not being able to see out of my side window, and with no radio. The next morning my father and brother came to get the car and fix it. Keith was so cute, he got all mad and now he thinks it's not safe for me to work in Rochester. My mom felt bad and said she'd buy me a new radio, but it was 100 dollars and I really feel bad that she wants to waste 200 dollars on me.
As if my life at this point isn't bad enough, a day later I found out that someone had been using my telephone pin number to call out of state and charging it to my telephone bill. So I had to file ANOTHER police report and got my money back after a few more hassles.
To end on a good note, I went out for St. Patrick's Day and had a good time bar hopping. I saw Tim Conheady out, which probably wasn't the best thing, because I had a crush on him freshman year and had been wanting to tell him about it. (For some reason I find it imperative to tell every person I've had crush on that I liked them at some point) So even though I have absolutely no interest in him right now, I went up to him at The Statesman and told him that I liked him freshman year. He was like "that's actually pretty cool" and that's about it. Of course he's in one of my classes so I had to see him the next morning. He didn't say anything to me though.
Last night I went with a bunch of people to the Geneseo Drag Ball. I really love going to gay events because people are so accepting, it's the one place I feel that I can dance and not care. I took pictures of a few of the drag queens, they were really good performers. My friends that have never been to a show had a good time too. Oh yeah! I also got my belly button pierced yesterday afternoon. I'm so glad I did it, and I should have done it earlier. It looks really cool and I love it.
Tonight I'm going to a birthday party for Pat's friends Davey and Janelle. I know both of them pretty well so I'm excited. It can only get better from here, right?
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