Good morning fine people. I/we have been in El Paso, TX for the past 8 days. Interesting place, for sure. Not as much good food as I thought we'd find, being Texas and all, but we did find some excellent grub at a car wash of all places, called H&H, right there in El Paso. Fan-fucking-tastic. The quotes I have from the guy who runs the place are unforgettable.
Was a good week and a bad week. We were on base only a couple of days when Dave received a phone call from his sister--his father passed away in her arms of a heart attack. The following Tuesday I got message that my grandmother was comatose and on oxygen, and that she was receiving her Last Rites. She mercifully passed away the next day, almost four long years after her beloved, my grandfather, passed away. Our ex-daughter-in-law has not only recently lost her 19yo brother, but only weeks after, the week before my father-in-law and grandmother, lost a cousin as well. I feel death around us more sharply than I ever have before, but the elderly passing grieves me not, it is a blessing for my grandmother to now be in God's arms and with Papai, and my father-in-law also lived his life as he saw fit, and lived it long. The young people? That is what grieves me so deeply, they had no chance to live a life.
Yet, blessed for us was to be with dear, dear friends when learning of the news, people who bring us comfort and joy and laughter and solace, and so I consider the awful timing of it all to be the blessing in itself and for that I am thankful.
When I can sort out photos and such, I may tell more of our visit, right now I'm playing catch-up and enjoying some of our best coffee, while trying to avoid drama with a family member who seems to practice this shit whenever another family member dies, a behavior I don't get at all. Aren't these the times when we're supposed to pull together, not tear each other apart? I totally get that people deal with death in their own way, but my God, take some care how you're remembered!
That's my advice, my desire--pay some attention to how you're remembered, if it matters to you at all. The rest of my thoughts are fairly morbid this morning, so I'm gonna do my best to move forward, and if I need a kick in the pants, let me know, k?
