Six Days

Well, I've been waiting for a chance to finally do this blog for a few days now, and finally I've got my chance.

In the past 6 days, alot of events have occurred. Sadly, the most prominent and important of these events is devastatingly tragic; last Sunday my grandmother died.

Ok, lets start from the beginning, which, in reality, starts about a month or so back:

About a month and a half ago, my grandmother was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Unless I can find respected permission to actually use her name, I will not actually be implementing her name unless I decide to do a memorial poem for her.
As I was saying, she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, which is common among people of her age. It wasn't a large concern, but she did feel weak and tired alot of the time. About 2 or 3 weeks later, she was diagnosed with cancer. This was devastating news for everyone that knew her, especially including me as her grandson. She was no longer able to get into town to do things, so she remained at home under the watchful and caring eyes of my grandfather, who was very worried about her health.
The doctors tried radiation treatments, and I'm assuming other treatments as well, which didn't seem to be helping to any large enough extent. About 1 or 2 weeks later, she caught very bad pneumonia due to her weakening immune system. The combination of cancer, diabetes, and pneumonia eventually lead to her passing.

On the Friday, I went to visit her in hospital when the doctors said she was most likely not going to make it through the night. I was going to Vancouver Island the next day to get some new clothes and visit a former Mexican exchange student who was up in Victoria visiting for the week to show her mom around the city, visit with a love interest of hers, and, of course, see my mom and I. (:

Due to the fact that they didn't think she would make it through the night, I decided, despite my sadness, not to alter the plans already made as I believed they would act as an immediate positive impact after she passed.

The next day, I got ahold of my dad to see how everyone was doing and what had happened with my grandmother. She had survived the night, but still wasn't expected to make it much further. Again, I was upset about this, and by this time we had made it to the city of Nanaimo on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island. That same day, I was cheered up to an extent when we went clothes shopping. I got two new hoodies; one black (which coincidentally turned out to be the exact same hoody my brother has), and one white one with some sort of tribal pattern on the chest. I also got 4 or 5 new shirts, and 3 new pairs of pants.
That night we stayed in the Colonial Motel, a small, 9 roomed motel on the Island Highway located just at the Nanaimo city limits.

The next day, we got up and went to grab some breakfast and coffee at a small coffee shop across the street from our motel, which was some of the best coffee I've ever tasted. I believe it was called Coyote Coffee or something along those lines.

We then began the last leg of our journey to Victoria and along the road we stopped at the small village of Shawnigan Lake where my mom was looking to find a high school friend of hers she hadn't seen in 20 years. We ended up at an old couples home, who just so happened to have the same last name as my moms friend, although they knew nothing of her.
There home was quite a classy one; it seemed to bathe in the old fashioned glow of antiquity.
After checking the phone book which the man living in the house offered us to no avail, we got back on the road to Victoria. It was then that I got a text from the Mexican exchange student we came up to see (ok, we grew so close that shes like a sister to me, and I'm like a brother to her, and her name is Sofia, which I assume I can release due to the fact that she has a FaceBook and it shouldn't really matter if her name is revealed online. Just to be safe though, I won't give out her last name) saying that her mom and her were coming over on a slightly later ferry from Vancouver.
This was fine, due to the fact that we were going to be a little later considering that fact that we stopped a couple of times to ask for directions and stopped to attempt to find my moms old friend.

Not to long after that we finally made it to Victoria, where we checked in to our room at the WorldMark timeshare branch (which we were able to stay in due to the fact that my uncle owned a timeshare there). We then left and went to meet Sofia and her mom at their hotel, and the general jist of the rest of the day is that we hung out.

It's strange; for the duration of the time we spend together, it seems like a dizzy blur. I mean, I remember it, but shes so affectionate to me and genuinely loves me in a brotherly way, which I'm not at all used to. That causes me to be awkward on occasion when I'm around her, but not really to any embarrassing extent. I'm just not used to being loved so affectionately; maybe it's due to my low self-esteem, which can increase on occasion, but almost always seems to be temporary. She may love me, but I'm almost completely sure that she doesn't love me as much as I love her. (:

Ok, and I guess I'll be completely honest; when she went to visit her guy friend who was attending the University of Victoria, I was jealous; not because I disapproved of him, he seemed like a very nice guy, but more due to the fact that he always prevented her from spending more time with me, and that I did feel protective of her, even if I didn't seem to show it often. I know, that's selfish, but true. (:

I believe I'm getting a bit out of whack in terms of when certain things occured, but I'll attempt to steer myself back on track.
Anyways, the next day, the same Sunday my grandmother died, we hung out some more and I followed my mom, Sofia, and Sofia's mom around to alot of... you know... girly shops, when I got a phone call from my dad while we were in a shoe store at around 2:30 pm. He told me my grandmother had died painlessly and peacefully at around 12:20 pm. My high on happiness was quickly extinguished. I almost let a few tears reach my eyes while I was in the store, but managed to keep my cool.

I became happy once again just spending time with my big Mexican sister and both our moms, but still had an underlying layer of depression. I found that every moment I wasn't preoccupying myself, I felt an unbearable wave of hopelessness and sadness, and as such, I was compelled to spend as much time with Sofia as possible to keep my mind off the tragedy.

I was completely aware that this was a completely natural part of life, and that she had had a long and prosperous life, even if not without tragedy, and that she passed wrapped in the love of everyone around her.

The following day, a Monday, the day before I was supposed to return to my home town and face all my problems, we did the same thing we had done the previous day: hung out, with the exception that we went to check out some exhibits at the Royal British Columbia Museum.

The following day, my mom began to feel ill, so we decided to stay another night; my mom got ahold of my uncle to make the arrangements, and I got ahold of my dad to tell him what was going on. He told me that a memorial service was going to be held in honor of my grandma at about 2:30 the next day, so my mom and I decided we'd get up at around 5 AM and start driving back. I spent some brief time with Sofia that day, and then she went to spend some time with her... **ahem**... guy friend at about 2:30 PM. ;)
(Yes, I was jealous. I mean, what kind of brother would I be if I wasn't? A good one? Well, that's certainly not going to happen. Hahaha.)

Later that night at around 7 PM, we all met up to spend some time together and say goodbye. Sofia and I decided we'd stay up late again and hang out just as we had done the previous 2 night, despite the fact that I had to get up at 5 AM. (By the way, I had to catch a cab back to the place we were staying every time her and I hung out until late, and I met about 3 very interesting cab drivers to which I chatted with about different subjects including how much I disliked being trapped in my isolated hometown, and how I planned to probably move to Victoria with a friend of mine after graduation).
We walked around and I told her how I felt trapped deep in the dumps right then, and she did the sisterly thing and tried to convince me it wasn't as bad as I was making it seem. She did help, and I definitely appreciated the effort, but I still felt quite depressed.
We then walked back to her hotel and watched videos on YouTube until about 12:30 AM when we said our goodbyes and I caught a cab back to the place where we were staying.

And that brings us to today. As tired and upset as I was, we set off to go back to Powell River (which, for those of you who don't know, is that isolated hometown I was speaking about).
I was incredibly tired, but was kept awake by three cups of coffee we picked up along the way (one of which was a three-shot cappuccino which completely buzzed me right off the hook).

We then caught the ferry back to Powell River, where I helped my mom unload the car, showered, changed, and then got picked up by my dad at around 12:30ish.
We then went to the short memorial service being held up at a small funeral home by the Powell River airport, where my dad read my grandmothers eulogy. I, like others there, didn't hide my feelings and cried a bit.

After the memorial service, everyone who was in attendance went down to the small coffee shop/ bookstore known as Breakwater Books, where the owners treated us with incredible kindness and sympathy. After that, we went home, and that brings us to about now.

That's all I really have to write.

I just wanted my grandmother to know that I loved her, and will always love her, and that I hope, wherever she is, shes in a better place.

I also wanted to tell Sofia that I miss her incredibly because I really needed someone to comfort me, and that I love her so much. Hope you read this, big sis, it'd mean alot. :')