Postcards

If you want a postcard from Down Under or anywhere else fun, exciting and beautiful, please email me your address or post it on the blog as a comment. And I promise I will send you one.

Traveling at Last

We finally arrived in Auckland this morning, after a 14 hour flight with 7 hours of turbulence and 2 last minute $6,000 return tickets to LAX in February (They wouldn't let us on the plane without a visa or a return ticket). Yay! But, nothing an Ambien and a few Fijian beers can't fix. Tonight we're staying at this bizarre campground with numerous brightly and crudely painted vans and a security man ballroom dancing outside his office to Waylon Jennings.

Our Kiwi friend Dayne suggested we buy a car and then we can be footloose and fancy free to go climb, backpack, kayak, etc. wherever and whenever we want. Apparently people come here, buy a car, drive it around for a few months and then sell it. There are car auctions everyday. And then up to Tongariro National Park, where the Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed for a week of backpacking. More updates and hopefully pictures later.....

Old family picture, Great Grandpa Paul and Grandma Yvonne even!

More Pictures of Grandpa

Sad days

A year of difficulties for Grandpa took a turn for the worse and he died last week, peacefully in his sleep in front of the ocean at his house in Kona. The night before he died, he was tossing and turning, rife with uncomfortableness. He was almost unable to speak at that point, Grandma was nearly sick with worry and sadness, and no one wanted to leave his bedside because we kept trying to prop up pillows or help him move around or something! I sat next to Grandpa and held his soft hand. I squeezed three times: "I love you." Grandpa paused a second and then I felt four squeezes back: "I love you more." Grandpa's oft-repeated response whenever a grandkid told him we loved him. He pulled his hand away soon after and resumed his spasmodic sleeplessness before his body eased into the liquid morphine-induced oblivion that we would provide for him via under-the-tongue, later. I'd already called his hospice nurse twice that night; she had recommended that we administer the soporific papaverine tucked away in the downstairs bathroom cabinet. 1/4 drop'll do ya.

We all gave our kisses and hugs to Grandpa and finally, since he was at last sleeping, and peacefully at that, we went to bed and worried that we might never see him again. The last few days were bad for Grandpa, today especially so; he had only gotten up from bed to go to the bathroom a few times and to sit in his special chair to watch the waves in the morning. He hadn't even drank his daily glass of red wine at sunset. It was a particularly bad day for Big Al, and we all knew time was running out, and fast. He'd told my cousin Jesse earlier that evening that he was "fading out." And indeed he was.

The next morning at about 5 in the morning, my Auntie came into our room and told Peter and I that Grandpa died this morning. I sat up, threw on yesterday's clothes and ran to the other house, where Grandpa was lying on his bed, a slight smile on his face, and more peaceful than he had in days. I kept expecting him to jump up, dance around on the bed a bit and shout, "Just kidding!" Of course that never happened, but I could keep hoping. The hospice nurse came, pronounced Grandpa dead at 5:43 a.m., gave us all big hugs, and gingerly asked us when we wanted the mortuary to come and take Grandpa off to the cremation chambers. Grandma wailed, "his beautiful body; they can't take it away." More crying, more crying, and more crying.

We toasted to Grandpa with our life-sized Bloody Mary's and talked about our sweet and gentle Grandpa, father and husband. I tried to imagine what it would be like to lose my best friend, lover and lifeline of more than 65 years. Completely inconceivable. Completely.

Grandma & Grandpa's Birthday Party

The blog is back! Finally I can get back on the track of excitement and travel. And so much excitement to be had.....The first leg of my trip was to Kona so I could be here for my grandma and grandpa's 87th and 90th birthdays, respectively. Unfortunately 90 is proving already to be a year of difficulties for Grandpa, and his health has taken a turn for the worse. Being in the very late stages of heart failure is a bitch, and watching one of the most admired, loved and respected people in my life suffer from it is pretty unpleasant as well....
At the moment he's being probed by the hospice nurse who visits him daily and tries to make his last remaining days as comfortable as possible.
Most certainly hasn't been the relaxing Hawaiian vacation I was hoping to have before I made the transition into full-time traveller and enviro volunteer, but I feel extremely fortunate that I and the rest of my family can be here together while Grandpa makes the transition.....