the electricity, the burning pizza, the 111's etd.
I was called by my uncle Kelly and warned that my grandma had fallen out of her bed friday and was not doing well...this was sunday or so. By tuesday I got a call that he didn't know if she would make it through the night. I was fresh out of the shower when I got the call. I called Westjet immediately and needed to leave within 5 min. to get to Comox to make the flight. I packed so fast and left with wet hair. I spent every day from that night till Sunday with her. I stayed at her house with my divorced uncle Mike who had been living with her for a number of years. I ate on her bed and that is where I would talk to Ben every night. I cooked in her oven which I noticed was never getting hot anymore and could barely heat up my food. Saturday night at the hospital I noticed she had very little urine and she had a fever. I asked the nurse about it. It became very clear she probably wouldn't make it through the night. My sister overheard this and decided to stay all night with my brother there. Of course my grandma waited till 8am to pass away when everyone had just left the room for a moment.
So it is Sunday now and I got the call immediately. I got myself ready with Mike and we picked up Janine and we went to the hospital. I had been very strong up to this point but now I wailed. Into my hands as I was all alone. I pulled out the bible and read the famous Psalm 63 I believe...the one anyone knows. It was an odd day. We all went into a lounge and just kind of let it all soak in. All devastated by the loss of the matriarch of our family. Our key connection. My sister at least had her girls there. I was all alone. Janine offered me her shoulder.
That night Mike had to go pick up his other daughter from the airport and for the first night since I had been there, he stayed at her house. I was all alone. I called Ben and told him. Like always, I sat on her bed and ate. I then went upstairs to sleep. I had my door closed. Around 3am I was writing Ben an email as I couldn't sleep and was getting frustrated. Then I started hearing sounds. My heart beat faster. I wrote at that exact time about what I was hearing in the email. I was scared to open the door. It was quite noisy. I was really scared. With my heart racing and the email done, I tried hard to go to sleep. I think by 4am I was able to. I woke up the next day alive. I walked downstairs and was about to go right, through the front foyer door, when I happened to glance quickly to the left and back to the right and then a very quick look back to the left. My grandmother's door to her room was closed. I not only had the phone in my hand the night before, but also my plate. I did not close that door. In addition to that, it was a very old door with a crystal knob that you either had to slam it to shut it tight, or pull it and turn the knob in a particular direction to make it close. I did not do that. My heart was racing.
I proceeded to go through the 2 foyer doors to the kitchen. It was a shiny Jan. 30th winter's day. 2012. I decided to eat and then call my boys. I had my computer open as well and had put a pizza in the oven. While I was on the phone with Cory, sitting at the kitchen table, the power went out. I was saying hello, hello and it was gone. Just at that exact same moment there was huge amounts of thick smoke billowing out of the wall oven. I ran over to it and got a oven mitt and took out my pizza. As I was holding onto the pizza about to walk it outside because of all the thick smoke, the tv came on in the family room. Now I had no power, a smoking pizza in my hand and the tv blaring in the other room. I set the pizza down on the stovetop and walked quickly into the family room. The tv was indeed on. At that moment I knew. My grandma was there. She had done ALL of this. With a half smile on my face and a tear of joy, I took a moment to look at the chair she always sat in the 9 months I was caregiving for her. I then turned the tv off in complete awe of all that had happened.
I now knew that all the noise I heard earlier that day at 3am was in fact my grandmother in the house. That she somewhere closed the door, and that she made the oven that hadn't worked all week very hot suddenly become extremely hot. My uncle Mike arrived home shortly after all this commotion. The power came on a few minutes later. I asked him if he had come home the night before for any reason whatsoever. The doors were locked and he said no he had not. I then proceeded to tell him this crazy story and I'm not sure what he thought of it. I also asked him if a tv that is off...if it can go on when the power goes out. He said no. Wow. Just wow. I went for the longest walk I had ever gone on with such a feeling of pure joy.
