The end of an era
Friday, March 7th, 2008Thanksgiving, Christmas, and sometimes random weekends, I was traveling to the bay area somewhat mysteriously. Well now I think it’s about time to fill you all in.
Back in November or so my Grandmother was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Apparently she had been treated for thyroid cancer with radiation in the 1930s(!) and it finally came back after all these years. My family tried to visit her and get together as much as possible after we found out. About a week before my birthday in February or so(I’m not very good with dates here) she died in her home overnight. A couple of days later I received a birthday card wishing me happy birthday with a check for $100. She was still sending me birthday cards from beyond! Actually it was sent the day before she died and it took a couple of days to travel in the mail. Still amazing that through all that pain she was able to make out a card and a check. The amount is worth noting because she would always throw large amounts of money at my sister and I. Even if we insisted she should keep it, as she needed it more than we did, she would still force us to accept it. I was hesitant to accept this check as well but my dad said she would probably want me to accept it. I thought about it: If it was one of the last things she did then she must’ve really wanted me to have this money - more so than usual. Looking back I’m surprised the bank would let me cash a dead person’s check. Something seems weird about that.
I’m convinced what really Killed her though was her “health care”. Her “health care” was “kaiser permanente” which over the last couple of years has gained a reputation for being one of the worst in the nation. As my uncle calls it: “assisted suicide”. It shows too, she had been complaining to my father and her doctor about problems swallowing and breathing for months. The doctor would tell her it was just allergies or some other bullcrap. It finally took a visit to the hospital to get a correct diagnosis, but by then it was way too late. I don’t think my parents are the suing type, but we really would have a case against them.
Now she requested some weird religious funeral thing since that side of the family is in to that sort of thing so we had to wait until just last Monday to start the three day/part funeral. I had to miss the third day as I needed to get back to school, the two days that I did catch though were quite interesting. Many of her friends and barely-related family (to me) attended that I didn’t even have a clue existed. I even met some of my dads’ friends who I seem to get along with quite well. They told me some very entertaining stories about my dad (more on that another day hehe) and how they all felt very welcome in my grandmother’s house back in the day. I really mean back in the day, we are talking the early 60s here.
Overall the funeral was a pleasant farewell, as my dad says: “It’s the end of an era”.
I’ll miss her… and making that two hour trek to her home, getting the typical grandma/relative hug, eating lunch, and enjoying the beautiful weather with the foster city lagoon nearby. I guess what I mean to say is that she had this aura of family and culture to her that I’ll miss very much. Perhaps it’s a bit of the north beach culture…
