Unexpected things...

For as long as I've been alive my Lolo (aka Grandfather) has been a beacon of strength. He does these weird exercises in the morning, and kind of looks like he's punching the air. It's not quite shadowboxing, but it's similar. He wasn't exactly designated, but he was certainly a reliable chauffeur. He drops off and picks up my cousins after school just as he'd picked me up. We knew we could always call him mid-day, if our parents were unavailable, to pick us up from school if we were ill. These sorts of things are always taken for granted as a kid. Maybe it's because it was so routine, that it kind of lost it's awesomeness.

Oddly enough, the things that drove me crazy about my Lolo are the very same things that I kind of grew to love about him. He does this thing, it's totally disgusting, where he burps for minutes on end without an "excuse me." It used to make me want to gag, but it's kind of funny and weird now. He used to make me turn on our old computer so he can play chess, and complain about how slow the computer took to load as if it were my fault. While we would get ready for school, he would play the same crazy song, his MASTERPIECE, over and over until we had our backpacks on. If we were misbehaving, he'd use to say, "Do you want me to take your nose and put it in the back?" He told awful jokes.

You kind of take for granted of the things that are routine and reliable because, well, they're routine and reliable. Today, my Lolo, my model of health, had a heart attack. He had an angioplasty, and the doctors said he was lucky to have gotten to the hospital when he did because he probably would not have lasted much longer.

My cousin observed my Lola (grandmother) whispering "I love you" to my Lolo when he came out of surgery, and my Lolo replied, "YA, I already KNOW dat. Did you remember to take your medicines?" That is so indicative of his personality: overly concerned, pushing away "mushy" feelings directed toward him, and funny, but just not on purpose. 81 years old, and going strong.