Granny Franny

Greg's grandmother passed away abruptly a couple days ago, so he decided to have an Irish wake on her behalf in the theater tonight after the show was done. Brendan sang an old Irish song and we drank Jamison as we told stories about our grandmothers. At first I was a little weirded out to attend such a public mourning, but it turned out to be a really cathartic evening for all of us. The stories were funny, touching, sad and wonderful.

I've now lost all of my grandparents, with Grandpa Jack passing away this year. They're all gone. I really miss my grandmothers and it's a real bummer to me that Erica will never get to meet them. It was fun to talk about to them, to remember them, and how much I was lucky enough to have them touch my life in so many ways. From my Grandma Grace always making you be the one to say goodbye on the phone to my Grandma Gowland always feeding you mostly gross food that you had to eat or you'r insult her, it was great to live with them again for a little while in my mind. It even reminded me of a conversation I had with my Grandma Grace right before she died that I did not share with everyone.

The weekend she died, she called me. It was a Friday or Saturday night, and it wasn't a long conversation. At that point, she was in the hispital after her lung had collapsed on her and the emphysema was really taking hold. It was the only time she ever initiated the end of a phone call. Usually, and I think this is a Midwestern thing, if you call someone, they always let you end it. So, while I always had great conversations with my Grandma, at some point, you run out of shit to talk about. Then there would be a small awkward pause as I realized there was no way she would ever initiate the end of the call. This time, she did.

"Well, you're the last one. I guess I've talked to everyone." (she'd already called my brother and my sister.)

"Ok, goodbye Grandma."

"Goodbye."

I never forgot her saying that:

"I guess I've talked to everyone."

She sort of sighed as she said it. She was done. We were never to speak again. She died two days later.