"A full life"?

I am posting because I feel I need to write something about this.

Just a few minutes ago, my mom came to my room and said that the hospice where Grandad was staying had called. He's dead.

I went to my mom and dad's room a few minutes later to ask if we were all going so I'd know if I should get ready, and Mum said Andrew and I didn't have to go. I saw Papa hugging Andrew and saying that Grandad had led a "full life."

They just left to go to the hospice, even with it being almost 11:30 at night.

I feel kinda choked up, but I know it will not be easy for me to cry about this. I don't cry easily. I didn't even cry at any of the funerals for my other grandparents. Maybe inside, but not outwardly.

Did my Grandad lead a "full life"? What does that mean anyway? Yeah he was 88, which is pretty old. He's outlived most of his family, including his wife. He served our country during World War II as a Seabee (United States Navy Construction Battalions; "Construction Battalions" can be abbreviated "C.B.," hence the nickname). He was married to the same woman for over 50 years. He raised two children who have both gone on to be successful in life (my dad in radio; my aunt in her executive job at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas). He did lots of things in his life, as his written life story indicates.

So anyway, he's dead, and Papa said he hopes to have the funeral ASAP. This is probably good since they didn't have Gran's memorial service till like 2 months after she died, and that would be weird to do again. He thinks it will be this weekend probably. I may have to miss work if that's the case, since I'm scheduled all this weekend, but I'm pretty sure they let you off on short notice for something like that.

The good thing is that as far as arrangements go...we have a burial place already, since Grandad and Gran bought a cremation plot at a graveyard nearby years ago. He's already indicated most of the other stuff I can think of about his final wishes to my dad, which my dad has put in writing. Don't know who will be executor of the estate - Mum thinks Aunt Jane since being executor (or executrix if you're a woman) involves lots of accounting, etc., which is part of Aunt Jane does for her job. I suspect though that both my dad and Aunt Jane will be equally involved, as seems fair.

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I'm going to move on to happier news now.

I started back at school today and it was good. I had Intro to Lit and U.S. History. Mr. Jara, my Lit teacher, is fun and likes to make jokes. He seemed interested in my writing (on my "intro card," I'd written writing as one of my hobbies, and when he came to collect my card my group was interviewing me, and he asked me what I wrote and stuff. It was kinda cool). My U.S. History teacher, Mr. Byrom, is funny too (though I think I embarrassed him when I had to correct him on my last name and then said he was only the 2nd teacher to get it wrong...I think I meant to say that differently than I did...oops). He's in a wheelchair, so I expect he will lecture from behind the desk most of the semester. This is not new to me, except the permanent sitting position. Different teachers do different things as far as lecturing is concerned -- my Asian Philosophy & Religion teacher, Professor Scott-James, sometimes sat on the desk when she taught.

I stayed a little after my last class to check my online homework and make "covers" for my folders, which I did using Microsoft Publisher. I printed out the ones for Lit and U.S. History. The U.S. History one has old maps on it, and the Lit one is dedicated to Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. The front of it has pics from the movies, and the back has book covers. (I happened to find pics online of Japanese book covers for my two favorite HP books, Prisoner of Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix, which was pretty cool, so I put those on there).

After that, I went to Loaves & Fishes to try to get some stuff before they close. Yes, they are closing their doors as of August 31st. Apparently, the competition which made last summer and fall slow enough that they had to consider cutting staff (which is part of the reason I was laid off) has been even more brutal, and so they have not been making much profit. So after 27 years, they are closing. I talked to Steve about it and he said that their lease was up for renewal, but the rent was going to go way up, and they couldn't make ends meet. Not to mention they pay for A/C, water for the bathrooms, electricity, etc. I went in there and even the fixtures (shelves and such) are on sale -- several had been sold already and were awaiting pickup. This included an antique sewing table that I remember was some sort of display piece in the store (I think in the window) and the slatwall they used to hang hooks for T-shirts.

I wound up spending a lot more than I had intended, even with everything marked down. After the discounts, it was still around $97! Yikes. I guess I'll have to be frugal for the next couple days till I get paid again. I bought a pen that says "Blessed not Lucky," a couple pencils (one of which apparently fell out of the bag on the way home...oh well), a CD with Jewish music, a pamphlet on Old Testament Archaeology, a small poster, a bookmark magnet, three books (Sixth Covenant, a kids' book about Corrie Ten Boom called Are all the watches safe?, and A Little Primer on Humble Apologetics), the 2 available volumes of a new Christian manga called Tomo that I'd read about in the catalog they sent out, and every issue of the Christian comic PowerMark that I did not already own (issues 13-24 of the original ones, and the special issues Victory and Jesus: Someone Who Cares). Technically, everything except the comics and maybe the Jewish CD I could've gotten at other Christian bookstores, but in my shopping frenzy I did not think of this. I had actually come in just for the PowerMark and Sixth Covenant, as well as maybe Tomo. And I probably should've stopped there. *sigh*

Well, it's late. I better go to bed cause I gotta work tomorrow. Mum is planning to give me a ride to work tomorrow so we can go buy pads at the store, although I don't know for sure if this will still happen, given what just happened (Grandad dying). We'll see. I'll get up early enough to get the bus just in case. Goodnight.