Current Post On Trae’s Blog:
My grandmother died last night. This wasn't a shock or a surprise. Her health has been on the decline, and she's been in hospice for the last month. She lived a long life, and in her final days she was surrounded by her three adult children.
My grandma was a kind woman. She wasn't perfect, but I always felt loved in her presence. She was a retired kindergarten teacher, and was still working when I was a kid. I have so many happy memories sitting at her kitchen table, and I'm going to carry those with me for the rest of my life. She was also proof that anyone who claims that you get more conservative as you get older is full of shit, because she certainly didn't.
I think it's interesting how the body processes grief sometimes. I don't know that I'll cry, but over the past month, knowing this was coming, I've felt a tension in my gut. Now that she's passed, instead of relief that tension is replaced by a sense of emptiness. That something is missing that should still be there. Something has been taken away, and I feel it.
Of course, as I wrote that, I immediately started crying... so I guess my body processes grief in pretty ordinary ways too.
I wanted to come up with something profound linking this to Beltane, which we sit in the middle of right now, but it just seemed hackneyed. Like I was trying to dig out some greater significance when the truth is death comes whenever it wants. The only predictable thing about it is that it's the end of all of our journeys. I hope that when I pass I'm so lucky to have lived such a long life with people that I love around me in my final days.
For the record, I will be fine. I just needed to get these words out while they were still in my head. I don't have some rousing conclusion or deep insight to tack on here at the end, just that gut feeling that something is missing.
Because it is.
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…though, given what the rest of the convention will smell like by that point, I’m sure sure how much it will help.
It’s important for the staff room to remain a refuge. The VGR is a lost cause
Thats why we gave our volunteers traffic cone yellow vests……and named them the bees.
True story, Lynn. True story.
Taking a shower always helps.
Showers help, and so do washing machines, which most hotels have. For some reason, they are very seldom used.
I’d also like to think that while it’s 90 outside, it’s cooler in the convention hall… but I know that’s not always the case.
Basic rule – if you have gofers crashing in the Gofer Hole, make sure the room has showers and lots and lots of towels AND that there’s time for everybody to use them before they get going in the morning. Your sense of smell will love you for it.
We don’t make our volunteers wear T-shirts.. except for security.
Sunday night at the staff dinner, there’s a reason I don’t sit with security.. (>_>)
I once attended the volunteer meeting at a Free Software conference. (These are only *slightly* geeky, so most people do know about showers and changing clothes, plus no cosplay… So not smelly in general.) They said everyone is getting *two* shirts — because the conference lasts more than one day…