02 March 2004
Oy!
Last night I had the lights off and was in bed by 10:50 pm (EST for those readers in other time zones). I had left work at 7:00 pm, gone to the food store and caught the bus back to my place. It was a beautiful night to say the least. You could smell spring coming in the air. Becky called and I caught up with her for a bit. I chatted with Kate while I made and then ate my salad. I called my mother – and then I took a HOT bath. You know, the kind of hot bath where your whole body turns red, wrinkly and your shave is just perfect because you soaked before hand. I even used the bath salts that my mother gave me for Christmas that smell like heaven. I woke up at 6:15 am, started the coffee pot and went back to bed for another 15 minutes. I had a wonderful cup of coffee and The Post read by 7:30 am (it is Tuesday which means that I get the Health section to read in addition to my usual readings) and was about to go get ready for work. And then, the phone rang…It was a number that I did not know, but it had my grandparent’s area code, so I answered it. It was my grandfathers live in girlfriend (she is his age) telling me that she needed to get in touch with my Father. At first I thought it was because today is his birthday. He is 50 today! A big birthday…but no, it ends up that my grandfather has bladder cancer that may or may not have spread to his kidneys and she needs my father to come down to Florida to help her out as she cannot handle everything. What if he dies? He won’t marry her, so she’ll be left with nothing! She cannot handle this…this went on for about 45 minutes before I got the whole story of what was going on with my grandfather. Now for all those that do not know, Florida is not a common law state. So unless he marries her, she is out, legally. But, my grandfather has left her a good amount of money in case he dies. But she is upset that she does not get it all. As far as I am concered, now my grandfather is in the hospital and sick, and the most important thing right now is that he gets good care and gets better. But she is upset that the doctor that has been suggested that he see about his cancer is not covered by his medical insurance. I told her, we’d just pay cash. It will be fine as long as we get in to this doctor that has been recommended by everyone and we’ll move on. But no, she is worried because what if he does not have any money left after this? I told her that it should not be a problem…her comment? “What if he dies? What is going to happen to me? What do I do then?” and then she goes on to tell me “And don’t go telling everyone! I cannot handle the stress! And don’t you go telling your grandmother, I don’t need her around!” Now my grandparents were married for 25 years and now have been divorced for 27…yes, they still care about one another, by my grandmother has re-married (very happily) and has her own life…if my grandmother were to go see him, what’s the big deal? It is not like they will be getting back together! But for Rita, it is a bit deal…something that I still cannot understand. Families! Agggg! So I finally got in touch my Father, and I feel like a total shite having to tell him this on his birthday…but at least I also got in touch with my Aunt Sue who is a medical doctor and in charge of all my grandfathers health issues. She said that as long as we get things taken care right away, everything should be fine. And she agreed that while it is good that my grandfather has someone there with him, that Rita can be a bit over the top sometimes…
