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.
![Nerd & Tie[dot]Social Forums](https://www.nerdandtie.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/natsocial-nicepreview-square-300x300.png)
I laugh but I recall things like this!
Never met that guy. Met people who thought the weather sucked and then moved on.
Have met people who were upset the entire Con didn’t cater to their particular nitch interest.
Also seen though who had something unfortunate happen to them, and now think the entire Staff should drop everything to solve it. ie, ‘I lost my bag, why aren’t you organizing a room by room search of the hotel?’
Sadly I have seen this one come up…
Ever since I have been making snow jokes close to con…
reminds me of the story of a guy who called the transit authority asking them to move the deer crossing sign from his street so the deers would stop crossing in front of his house all the time
We’ve had people complain that the stairs in the con hotel had too steep a rise.
Also the guy showing up at ConOps Thursday morning at 10am and complaining there was “Nothing to do at this con!” (Note: Opening Ceremonies was 11am Friday. Thursday was Reg and a dance.)
But there hasn’t been any bitching about the weather. Other than ‘It’s hot in [late June/early July].” Yes, yes it is.
There is a story that a “guest” at Walt Disney World walked up to a “cast member” during a storm and said; “Listen, I’ve planned this vacation for months. Turn the rain off.” The cast member actually called the weather service and found out that the rain would end in about twenty minutes, he told the guest who waited for the rain to end and then thanked the cast member for turning it off.