Well, he’ll be 95 on Thursday.

So this past weekend, we all met out in upstate NY. My grandpa is not doing so well anymore. He’s really gone down these past two years, and even more so in the two days before we all got out there. This may have been the last time we see him alive. My parents flew out from Cameroon; Aron and Amy drove from NH; Dan, Abby and I drove out from MA; Andrew and Cristin drove out from IN. So my parents, us four kids, and my siblings’ significant others were all there.

It’s not often that we’re all in the same place, so on top of seeing Grandpa again for this special occasion, it was a nice family reunion. I have such a great family.

On the way back, we stopped at Auntie’s house - though we’re unrelated she took care of us when we were kids and treated us as if we were her own - and hung out for a little while. Having not seen her for a few years it was a good way to top off the trip.

But now I’m back, and life is already falling back into the ordinary: Sleep, work, and play. My parents are coming back to Swansea tonight, and they’ll be around till Friday, when they’ll fly back to Cameroon. A few more days with them, and then another undetermined length of time before I’ll see them again. We’ll have to make this week as good as it can possibly be.

I guess I never mentioned this, but my softball team (Anteon) won the B-league championship this past Thursday! The company hasn’t won since ‘95, but this year we went through the playoffs undefeated. So how about that? My first season ever playing softball and we win! Somehow, I don’t think I made all that much of a difference, but it was still fun to be a part of the team that finally pulled it off.

And the big announcement for today? The eleventh book in The Wheel Of Time, by Robert Jordan, was _finally_ released today, and my copy should be in the mail either later today or tomorrow! Oh the joy of pre-ordering through Amazon.

Whenever I have a long weekend, the last evening before having to get up and go to work in the morning is always the worst. I get that dreaded feeling of NOT wanting to get up, NOT wanting to go to work - and I haven’t even gone to bed yet. Well, I got that feeling last night. Now I SHOULD have been all happy because the Yankees lost, but even that was overshadowed.

And now here I am. Getting up wasn’t half as hard as I always think it’s gonna be, and coming to work really ain’t all that bad. In fact, I’m not even sure why I get that feeling the night before.

Well, my parents are hitting the road tomorrow, heading out to speak at various churches, visit some supporters, hang out with Andrew in Indy for a day, and finally going to New York. The rest of us (sans Andrew) will be heading out to NY to meet up with them in a couple of weeks to celebrate my grandpa’s 95th birthday. I’m not sure I want to live to be that old.

Well, let me just start off by saying that I still have _both_.

Though for the space of a heartbeat yesterday I wasn’t so sure that would be the case.

Abby and I both took the day off yesterday to spend with my parents in their much-awaited presence here in the US of A. We started out the day by getting their car on the road - registered, insured, inspected (which it failed!), and thankfully we had that done by around 10h45.

After stopping at home for a while we headed out again. First stop - Naval Station Newport. I wanted to drive my parents (and sister) through to show them where I worked. Mission accomplished. From there we drove over the Newport bridge, Jamestown bridge, and up to West Kingston, RI, for a stop at Peter Pots Pottery. Again, mission accomplished.

Now for the rest of the trip home. We headed up Rt. 4, got onto 95, and finally merged onto 195. It was shortly after getting on 195 when the life / car uncertainties began. I was in the middle lane, driving maybe just a bit too close to the van in front of me - when that van decided to come to a stop. A complete stop. For absolutely _no_ apparent reason. I slammed on the brakes as hard as I could. I mean, I didn’t just press lightly - I went all out.

My anti-locking brake system kicked in full gear, and my car shuddered to a stop about 1 foot from the van in front of me. The first thing I did was check my mirror to see if I was about to be rear-ended, but fortunately that was not the case. I quickly turned my car back on (which I had stalled in the process of stopping), and headed the rest of the way home.

Alas, my car was unscathed, as were the lives of my parents, my sister, and myself.

Another day, another flash of life.