Sunday morning and I didn’t bring the Chalkboard with me to Indianapolis. So here are the last few Chalkboards for June 2nd.
Big George has learned an important lesson in suffering this weekend.
Last Autumn my son lost his PopPop in a matter of two weeks. PopPop went into a hospital in late October and went to heaven on November 11th.
PopPop suffered greatly in those couple of weeks around Halloween. Then PopPop stopped suffering and left an immediate impact of grief.
Yesterday I took Mr. Charming to visit his Great Uncle in a nursing home. George has met his uncle many times through the years.
The way George sees things was evident in his statement when we left the nursing home.
“Wow Dad! Uncle Chris got old really fast!”
That is how my spectrum influence defined dementia….
George watched one of the most brilliant men that I’ve met, sit in a shell of himself. He heard his dad’s tender voice come out in conversation. He watched his Aunt B feed his Uncle Chris homemade blueberry pie.
When we got into our Datsun rental car and continued our tour of Indianapolis, I explained to him my theory on how Jesus suffered on the cross. I told him the story of Ryan Updike and Scott Altherr and how they suffered.
….and I compared the difference between Ed Bergmann and Chris McEvoy.
Big George’s grandfather didn’t suffer very long at the tail end of his life. George saw his Pop in the hospital on the last Sunday of his life. George brought his camera and told his grandfather that they needed to get film when he got out of the hospital. Then Pop passed along to eternal peace and left sudden grief for those that loved him.
Big George’s great uncle is living the autumn of his life in a different situation. A well read man, an entrepreneur, a college professor sat in a padded chair with a piercing stare and a forced smile. Uncle Chris watched and listened to my memories of him. He watched how George and I do our Father and Son Act. I think he was proud of me?
My Uncle Chris could pull facts out in a heartbeat and quickly tell a dirty joke without being offensive. George won’t know that Uncle Chris.
Eventually Chris McEvoy will leave for the great eternal cocktail party. He will get to talk with Henry Kissinger about diplomacy and turn around and tell Jesus the joke about the four nuns standing in line for confession.
PopPop left a large wake of grief when he departed for HCC, Heavenly Country Club. Uncle Chris will leave a sigh of relief when he hears “last call.”
It is an incredible lesson that George has learned this weekend. The balance between suffering and grief.
A lesson that has a realistic impact that far outweighs flushing a goldfish down the toilet when he was four.
At the end of my visit I kissed my Uncle for the first time in fifty years. I told him thanks for being supportive when I was a kid and that I’ll be back in August when I return for my high school reunion.
Maybe he will be around later this summer or maybe he will be up in heaven shooting the shit with Richard Nixon?
Life is fragile you Chalkheads!
Life is a fanfuckingtastic journey.
A journey of pain and suffering, a journey of love and joy.
Let’s not bullshit ourselves…. It has heartache!
That is why WE have EACH OTHER!
Time to gas up the Datsun and drive home to the city by the lake…
…. Be astonished!
