Grandmother passed away

It snowed the day my grandmother passed away.  Not a lot, but enough to look pretty.  My mom called early that morning, but the phone didn’t wake my up.  It was January 17, 2016, almost a year after my grandmother had gotten sick.  I stood outside watching the snow fall as my mom told me that at the age of 92 my grandmother had left this world. Thankfully, she passed peacefully in her sleep, never having to endure enough pain to require medicine.

At 91 years old, her body had started giving out.  Congestive heart failure began to set in and the fibrosis in her lungs began to advance.  She was soon placed on home oxygen and remained on it until she died.  However, even with her failing health she remained in her home.  She took care of herself as long as she could, using a walker to move around and keeping her mind occupied with knitting and watching TV.  Her friends would call her daily and she would light up talking to them.

As her illness progressed my mother and uncle began staying with her.  After a while, they would need to be there 24 hours a day.  My mom taking the days, and my uncle staying at night.  Still, my grandmother refused to leave her home.  My cousin and my father would eventually stay with her occasionally to give my mom and uncle time off.

Even through it all, when various family members, myself included, would go to visit she was in good spirits.  She would occasionally become depressed and wish that the Lord would take her.  She tired of fighting and tired of “being a burden”.  Everyone would tell her that she wasn’t a burden though.  Because everyone loved her.

She was sweet and kind and funny and loved spending time with her loved ones.  She was the nice old lady that strangers would buy her lunch for her just because she had a nice smile.  And at 91, she would still drive herself to a little dinner for lunch and to church on Sundays.  She was also a straight shooter and told it how it is all the time.  But she would also know that no matter what, things would be okay and would often be heard saying, “Everything’s going to be okay.”

She was an amazing woman.  She helped raise me and looked after my when my parents had to work.  She divorced my biological grandfather due to his alcoholism.  She raised her two children as well as her own sisters.  She eventually married the man I would consider my grandfather.  He would take me fishing and when he developed heart problems I would go to the mall with him early in the mornings to walk.  In the afternoon she and I would watch Perry Mason, The Andy Griffith Show and Wheel of Fortune.  She was smart too.  She read more than anyone else I’ve ever known, aside from maybe my mother.

I’m going to miss her.  Everyone that was blessed enough to know her is going to miss her.

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Renovations!

The theater has started its renovation. I personally think it’s several years overdue but better late than never I suppose. When all is said and done we will have new leather, reclining seats, a full kitchen, new carpet, new floor lighting in the auditoriums, new lobby seating and two new bar sections.

 

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Moving is not fun

Jessy and I moved this past weekend.  We decided that after a year of dating we would try living together.  After weeks of packing we had all of our stuff moved to the new place this past weekend.  It still looks like a war zone and I’m sure it will for a while.  I also have some repairs to make after the movers dinged a couple walls pretty bad. If this had been a house we bought, I’d have been much more upset.  The house is okay, it wasn’t my first choice; and I think after moving in and realizing a few things, it’s not Jessy’s first choice anymore either.  But it’s a nice house, and it will be good enough for a year or two.

Long time…

I guess it’s been a bit longer than I had planned.  A lot has happened over the last few years.  Jenna and I divorced; we abandoned the house; we filed for bankruptcy; I reconnected with some old friends; I met a girl; and I took a trip to Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland (partly with my cousin and partly solo). Now, a little more than a year after meeting, I’m getting ready to move in with that new girl. Hopefully over the coming months I’ll start posting a bit more, about the trip, about the girl, and about our adventures together.

Offer is in

After months of hardly any showings on the house, we finally started to get some traffic.  After a few weeks of multiple showings a week on average, we got an offer today.  It’s a little below what we have the house listed for but it’s a good offer.  Now, we just have to play the waiting game (2-4 week possibly) to see if the mortgage company will accept it.  If they don’t, I’m not sure what we will do…  So, fingers are crossed and we’ll see what happen.

Boring

There isn’t really anything to report.  Nothing that good anyway and I don’t really feel like writing about the bad.  The house is still on the market and we’ve lowered the price about $50K.  We have had more showings in the last week than we have in the last several months though so maybe something will finally give.  We are having an open house on the 15th of this month so maybe our buyer will find and fall in love with the house then.

Nothing eventful happened this summer.  No trips.  No vacations.  Mostly just work and more work for me, and work and school for Jenna.  My uncle retired from UPS which was the excitement for the family.  But boring can be good.  Right?

House for Sale

Well, we met with the Realtor last night.  It was a semi-tough choice but it’s the best one.  We will be doing a short sale on the house so that we can unload it start to focus on more important things.  When the market crashed a few years ago we lost about 25K in value on the house.  A house that was only a year and half to two years old at the time.  We cannot refinance and we obviously cannot sell it for what we owe due to the crash.  So, we were sort of forced into a corner.  But it will all work out in the end.

And we’re back

Not sure how long the site was hosed but it’s finally fixed.  I know it was at least a week but I can only assume it was much longer.  Of course tech support took forever to respond to my help tickets so I spent most of the last week banging my head against the desk.  But, we’re back now so maybe something worth posting about will happen.