Grandparents' Day (observed)

The real Grandparent's Day officially falls on the first Sunday after Labor Day, so declared Jimmy Carter in 1978. In my personal chronology, I think it happened yesterday.

Cat, Josh and I drove down to New Braunfels/Gruene yesterday to see Ina, our step-grandmother. The city is a small one, about 36,000 people. The drive took us about forty-five minutes- a nice, normal zip down a highway in my Saturn with very few farm ranch country highway road routes. About a week ago, I said that if I'd never see another highway again, it would be too soon. I don't want to fully retract that statement, but this zippy trip felt like nothing compared to past excursions.

My grandfather, my mom's dad, Paul, died in January. He was a good man, and is sorely missed. It was pretty rough for me.

We've seen and talked to his second wife, Ina, a few times since then, but not much. Cat and I have meant to visit her since we've relocated to Austin, but admittedly at a lower priority than getting settled into our new lives. Mid-last week, we finally coordinated schedules with Josh to make time to make the drive down for lunch. The original plan was that she'd make us a casserole, but when we got there, we were pleasantly surprised with Rudy's BBQ brisket. Yum.

She doesn't know it, but Pepper (pictured right) says hello.

We spent a nice three or four hours visiting, then needed to break to beat the traffic. It was nice to see Ina again, but very strange to be in the house my grandfather and grandmother built without them around. I've got a few holiday memories from that house, of Christmases and Thanksgivings and a birthday. I'd have to dig for photos, as most are still in boxes now. I miss them both. We did not visit their graves this trip.

On the way back, Josh called my mom and put her on speaker, so we got about a twenty- or thirty-minute update on the "Mo and Glo Show," detailing my dad's parents' escapades with getting back to the city. They've been staying in a casino hotel in Tunica, Mississippi since a day or two before Katrina and haven't yet been back inside their Lakeview home yet. Only yesterday did they see the outside of the house for the first time. My mom has arranged, though her amazing social network, an apartment for them in the next day or so. Right now, they're able to stay at a friend's place. Pretty much the entire ground and first floors are gone; the second and attic-level floors are all right, but mold and mildew are steadily advancing. I may go back to the city in the next few days to help them out and to see people.