Briefly east

So far it's been kind of harrowing. We left Portland on time, 6:15am, and made it to Ontario by 1:45 local time (they're an hour ahead of us), which is pretty dang good considering we stopped for gas and for breakfast. And considering it's February and we had to go over my favorite hill, which is usually just one big ice-covered rollercoaster. It wasn't this time, though.

Not only did the aunt pass, but the cousin, her son, is in some serious health-related dire straits. He is currently on a ventilator in the CCU of Holy Rosary Medical Center in Ontario, in and out of lucidity (physician assisted) and fighting his own battle. Nobody has actually come right out and told him his mother has died. Barbie and I went up to see him yesterday and it was not so pretty. I think he knows. But like I said, nobody has actually come right out and told him.

So we've been kind of all over the place in the last 24 hours - I was on little sleep from Sunday night to begin with and so by the time the rosary was over I was not far from the aunt and the cousin in terms of lucidity myself.

The upside of these kinds of things? Revisiting the extended family, seeing the land, hanging out with Helen and Dan, not being cold and damp (being cold, yes, but this is high desert so it's cold and dry). The downside? Open caskets and the CCU. But this is the cirlce of life, I suppose, and sooner or later we will all have our own turn as the guest of honor.