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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1. Yep
2. yep
3. I imagine the third word is nuns, if so, yep.
I really want to know what “the incident” with glitter was.
Like “The Noodle Incident” from Calvin & Hobbes, it’s probably funnier if we never find out the details.
This scenario sounds about right. The first time I assumed the role as dealer’s liaison for a convention, there was a case of theft in the vendor hall the one day I went off-site for lunch. I returned to find that security had been called and everything. Thankfully, the issue was resolved quickly and they ended up not needing to call me to rush back.
(To note, I had informed my staff I was going off-site for lunch and would be back in about an hour or so.)
…also, they’re electing her Con Chair…
Yup – everything happens at the meeting you miss.
Whee – a “How the hell does this con ever survive year after year??” illustration meeting, my favorite! (The answer of course is by sucking in a few competent people, and bitching your face off when they start shouting and beating you about the head and neck with a pipe until you agree to something workable.) Then that person gets tired of it, and a new challenger appears…