Sucker-punched

I feel like I was sucker punched.  I just found out that my beloved Grandma Edie has pancreatic cancer.  It is inconceivable that she’s even sick.  I mean, she’s the healthiest looking and acting eighty-two-year-old out there.  I just can’t wrap my brain around this news.  It is just so unbelievably gut-wrenchingly awful.

My Grandma and I have a very special bond.  From a very young age, I loved spending time at Grandma Edie’s house on the farm, and had an unnatural attachment to riding in her Oldsmobile.  I just thought it was the fanciest, most beautiful car I had ever seen.  As the years went on, Grandma and Grandpa were my biggest cheerleaders, rarely missing a concert, party, event, or awards ceremony.  Even now, they drive six hours round trip to attend my kids’ birthday parties.  Grandma was the person who taught me how to sew and helped me make a beautiful keepsake quilt for the birth of my goddaughter.  She has answered countless questions, like how to get a stain out of my favorite shirt or how to make the perfect potato salad.  She’s traipsed around Europe in hundred-degree heat with the rest of us Weisenbeck girls last summer, without so much as a complaint.  Basically, she’s been a rock solid pillar in my life, providing love, support, and encouragement throughout every chapter. 

The thought that I might lose her is absolutely devastating.  I am not okay with the idea that we may not get another girls weekend, Thanksgiving, or Christmas together.  Right now there is a lot that is up in the air.  We don’t really know what her treatment options will be or if she’ll even be healthy enough to have options.  All we can do right now is hope and pray for a miracle that will provide healing and health to this very special woman. 

And in a cruel twist of events, Grandpa Ralph had a heart attack this past weekend.  He was in the hospital for a few days and then was released because there are no further treatment options available to him.  Mom and Dad encouraged me to come and visit, so I headed to Durand earlier this week to spend some time with both him and grandma.  I was so happy to see that he was in great spirits; the same ole' prankster who loves to stir up trouble and joke around with everyone.  He is holding his own at home and is enjoying all the visitors.  It is so unbelievable how fast time goes and now I am faced with saying goodbye to some of my favorite and most special people.  All I can take from this is to try to remember to celebrate and cherish everyday moments and make the memories...because in a flash things can change.