Ah, what a day. I say that only because it’s my day off. It definitely helps me take my mind off things and gives me time to… do absolutely nothing!
4 Oct was my mom’s birthday. So of course I called on the morning of the 5th so I can say good night to her on the 4th, California time. What a great strategy, right? Right… except my step-grandfather died that day. He’s been ill for quite some time now, having felt pain and agony in his last months. He lived a few months longer than he was expected to, too, so I suppose that was alright, except I didn’t expect it to fall on my mom’s birthday. You know, I had a feeling something like this might happen. But I was hoping, wishing that he would still be alive to see me for one last time. My mom, of course, never ceases to surprise me. She said that now they’re forever bound in something so inseparable, that he loved her dearly, unconditionally although she was now the wife of his divorced son, and that it gives her time to reflect on life, what was, what is, and what is to come, the ever lasting circle of life. The beauty of it all. And I sat there, listening to her talk, speechless, because I didn’t know what to say. It took me a full half hour before I even began to murmur Happy Birthday. Actually, it didn’t even come to that. I asked her, you know why I called right? But I don’t know why it’s so hard to say… Eventually I said it before I said good night. How freaken pathetic. Turns out the mail from Korea to the states took a bit, but it arrived already, my brother’s birthday card. Mine, I sent a bit late, but I’m sure it’ll get there sooner or later. She says everyone came by the hospital on his deathbed, even the ones we haven’t seen for quite some time, and wished even her happy birthday.
I was talking to 1LT McGrath last night. It was 2 AM, I was coming back from using the internet because all the other times it’s crowded in there. Well, him and Litnak was talking, so I just decided to stop by and talk for a while. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sleep well anyway. I haven’t been able to for the pat few months already, I knew this one day was going to be no different. Well, we started to talk about a few things. And LT McGrath was talking about his grandparents. How his grandfather had to live off oxygen tanks because he was a heavy smoker when he was young. But he lives for 2 years, far longer than he was expected to live. He went walking on mountains and what not, even though it was advised not to. But I suppose he figured might as well die doing something you love at the last minute than to die thinking about it. Then for some reason, his grandmother had to go through a bypass surgery. I’m not sure exactly what it was, but it required her to go living on oxygen tanks, too. So then there they were, in the hospital, sharing the same oxygen tank with a splitter. I don’t know if that’s romantic or just plain scary, but it happened.
Then there’s SFC Rodriguez. I don’t think he would be a friend back home if I knew him, and I certainly wouldn’t try to at least, but we’re cool, at least we get along. His family has a history of heart attacks. His siter died of it, and his father did as well, and even his wife’s parents suffered from it. And he had his several times, one time while training for a marathon. I mean this guy’s fast, and in shape. I just don’t know how it is that just because of genetics, he is forced to suffer as well. He ran the Army annual 10 miler in 80 minutes. I mean… Jeez. It’s sad to hear about these stories.
1SG was asking me whether I had already talked to LTC Kloster. I said no, she didn’t make an appointment or come and see me yet. And he laughed and said to me, let’s see, an O-5, an E-4. I said well it’s not my problem. If she wants to set a record straight, then it shouldn’t be me that should try to meet up with her. Well, conveniently for him, he had other people that he was talking to so he just simply changed the subject. Never finished that argument, but really now. Why do I need to go and see this woman that I have nothing to gain from?