The last month of our life

If you are reading this, chances are you know Anthony and me.  We both graduated from the University of Utah a month ago and hit the road.  We are now in Wooster, OH experiencing the first heatwave of summer.  The last month, in many ways, has been almost more intense than the last month of school.  Or maybe my memory is failing me, I think I will never know.  

A brief synopsis of what has happened since April 30th:

• Pack our bags and give a lot of our stuff away and move out of our favorite place to live and stay with my fabulous sister, Anneke and her husband Billy.
  
• Attend graduation.
  
• Continue to get rid of stuff (A Toyota Corolla is not that big).
  
• See as many people as possible and say farewell.
  
• Re-pack the car with the things we did not get rid of.
  
• Drive across the oh-so-interesting Midwest and stay with friends on the way.  One highlight was meeting new friends that generously opened their home to us and Anthony's audition for Chicago Lyric Opera.  We probably won't have any official word from them until the fall.
  
• Arrive in Wooster, unpack and start work.  Anthony is singing some cool stuff this summer with Ohio Light Opera (OLO) and I am teaching reading skills to people pre-K - Adult.
  
• Training for me just ended yesterday (I had to pack another suitcase to go to Chicago to finish my training) and I begin teaching tomorrow.  
• Anthony is in the middle of the rehearsal process and the shows begin opening next weekend.  One cool thing about that is OLO's 30th Anniversary season and Anthony is starring in the 100th show that the company is adding to its repertoire. 

That is the last month in a nutshell with one exception.

  

Yesterday morning I got a call from my parents letting me know that my grandmother just finished the last month of her life the night before.  She died.  I thought I was ready for it.  She has been sick and in pain and unable to sleep for so long and just took a turn for the worse about a week and a half ago.  I thought I would be able to take it in stride and be happy for her that she is in a better place with her daughter, my beloved Aunt Annette and her mother, Great Grandma Beesley.  I am glad for her, but I am so sad.  I feel like I am living in slow motion.  I've lost grandparents before, so it is not a new experience, but it feels differently this time and I am not sure why.  I think it helps to share the experience with people.  I am going to be fortunate enough to be able to go back to Salt Lake for the funeral and I think it will help to be surrounded with people that all knew and loved Grandma Steenblik.  I don't know what Grandma was able to do with the last month, but I know that she loved a lot of people and continued to be thoughtful and giving. 

As I have been sitting here for the last couple of days pondering life the only real conclusion I can come to is that loving other people - and knowing how to show it has got to be about the most important thing in this world.  Thank you Grandma Steenblik... and all the grandmas out there that love us unconditionally and do the little things that let us know.