Long distance love

I grew up in Nebraska, and moved to Austin in 1996. April 3rd of this year it will be 10 years since I flew the coop. A whole decade! Man time flies. But that doesn' t make me old because I left when I was eleven. Okay, maybe not quite that young, but I started kindergarten when I was 4 so everything in my life has been accelerated. I graduated from high school at 17, graduated from college at 21, and I left for Austin when I was still a pup. But ten years is a long time to be away from home. A lot can happen in a decade.

When Angela and I were in Nebraska this past Christmas, I had an incredibly hard time saying goodbye to everybody. Jada and Ciara (our nieces) have turned me into a complete pile of mush and I no longer have control over my own tears, sentimental thoughts, or hug and kiss reflexes. The control freak no longer has control. I had a tough time saying goodbye to those little tots, and then I saw that my grandma had tears welling up in her eyes too, and that made me a complete mess. She and I have always been close and I hated not knowing when I would see her again or what the circumstances would be. But even though she and I don't throw "I love yous" around all that freely, they came pouring out of us that night and I left carrying that sentiment with me.

She's my dad's mom and my parents built a house a half mile from hers when I was two, so I grew up under her influence. She's in her eighties now and her mind is still as sharp as a butcher's blade in the spoon drawer, but her little ole body isn't what it used to be. She's been in the hospital for the past couple of weeks with a bleeding ulcer and high blood pressure (not the greatest combination), and once she gets out of the hospital she'll have to go to the nursing home at least for awhile. Since so much time passes between our visits, I never know how things are going to be the next time I see her and it pains me.

My grandma is the witty soul who imparted great sayings like, "hotter than a hijacker's pistol," "I'd rather watch the paint peel," and "couldn't see for sour apples"...whatever that means. I told her at one point that she really should jot down all of her sayings in a journal so we would have them forever and ever, but that idea must have been "as dumb as a fencepost" because nothing ever came of it. Oh, she cracks me up. My grandma is a gem and I love her so. I hope she gets well soon.