invincible

I've always thought that my mom's parents were invincible. Sure they've had their illnesses here and there, but nothing serious. For the majority of my life they've been healthy. Active. Sharp. My dad's dad died when I was 11. My dad's mom was basically sick my whole life with diabetes and then later more serious and debilitating things. She passed away in Sept. of 2009. She survived a long time. Longer than even her own children believed was possible.

My maternal grandparents never seemed to have as much as a cold when we saw them a couple of times a year. So I always thought they would be here. My childish, I guess you could say, delusion was that we'd all go up to heaven together. The week before Christmas, my Poppy started behaving strangely. He used to go to McDonald's every day very early in the morning and have coffee with the other older men in the town. But one day, he just stopped. He started staying up really late and sleeping late, which isn't like him at all.

Then one day, my grandma asked him to run to the store to get some grits. She was about to fry up some fish for my aunt's birthday. She went out to the back porch to get something from their outside fridge and when she came back in, he was putting the fish in the cold oil. She told him it wasn't ready and that she needed him to go to the store for some grits. He went to the cabinet and brought out the cornmeal, then tried to hand it to her. She repeated herself and asked him to go to the store. He started dancing around the kitchen with the box of cornmeal. The next day was Sunday. They go on Sunday mornings and evenings. When it was time for them to start getting ready for the evening service, Poppy was on the computer. Grandma came in and told him it was time to get ready. 30 minutes later, he was still on the computer. She managed to get him to go to the bathroom for a shower. He had been in there a while, so she went to check on him and he was cleaning the faucets with a tissue.

She finally asked him if he realized he was behaving strangely. Specifically she asked him if he knew he wasn't going to McDonald's anymore for coffee. He said, "Not that I know of." She had an appointment with their doctor so when she went she explained it all to him and he set up an appointment for Poppy. It all snowballed from there. He has been to 3 different hospitals in a matter of 2 weeks. He's had CAT scans and MRIs. The CAT scan showed 3 suspicious spots in his brain. My aunt used to work for a doctor in town and he referred them to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL. That's where they've been for the last several days. They performed surgery and were able to remove 2 of the spots. The third is in an inoperable place. They biopsied the spots that were removed and diagnosed him with glioblastoma. He's in end-stage brain cancer and they're going to talk about radiation and chemotherapy for the last mass. And the prognosis is that he's got 3 to 4 months to live.


Well, I'm going down with the kids and my brother on Monday to spend some time with them. I wish I could stay there longer. And I think I'll be going down there quite a bit over the next several months. Now to get through Sunday. I have special music and the song I'm singing will be hard to get through. It's called Temporary Home. Beautiful song.






Little boy, 6 years old
A little too used to bein' alone
Another new mom and dad,another school
Another house that'll never be home
When people ask him how he likes this place
He looks up and says with a smile upon his face


"This is my temporary home
It's not where I belong
Windows and rooms that I'm passin' through
This is just a stop, on the way to where I'm going
I'm not afraid because I know this is my
Temporary Home."


Young mom on her own
She needs a little help got nowhere to go
She's lookin' for a job, lookin' for a way out
Because a half-way house will never be a home
At night she whispers to her baby girl
Someday we'll find a place here in this world


"This is our temporary home
It's not where we belong
Windows and rooms that we're passin' through
This is just a stop, on the way to where we're going
I'm not afraid because I know this is our
Temporary Home."

Old man, hospital bed
The room is filled with people he loves
And he whispers don't cry for me
I'll see you all someday
He looks up and says "I can see God's face"


"This is my temporary Home
It's not where I belong
Windows and rooms that I'm passin' through
This was just a stop,on the way To where I'm going
I'm not afraid because I know this was
My temporary home."


This is our temporary home