Death in the family

Of course fucking Facebook goes down for "account maintenance" bullshit just when I actually need to be in contact with my friends. Isn't garbage like that one of the reasons people left Myspace for Facebook in the first place?

Anyway...

I got word at about 10:00 am that Julie's grandfather died this morning. Julie's dad died of leukemia when she was 5; since then, despite living in Louisiana, her grandfather has been like a father figure to her.

His health has declined somewhat in recent months, following his suffering a stroke this summer. He seemed at first to recover fully with no ill effects, but then was stricken with dementia and body control issues a week later. He had to be put in a home.

He was somewhat belligerent about having to be there and generally upset and confused about what was happening to him (he's always been a very strong man), but didn't seem to be in further or serious declining health besides that, though Julie told me last night he stopped talking about a week ago because he was so upset about the state of things.

We were supposed to go down there over the holidays so I could finally meet him after all these years. We've tried several times in the past; every time something has gotten in the way. Now, out of the blue, he's gone and it'll never happen.

Julie's in a very bad way and my heart is broken for her, and I'm rather upset that I'm never going to get to meet this man who had such a profound effect on the life of the woman I love. I don't even know if we'll be able to get down there for a funeral--neither of us have time off to use. She may be able to finagle bereavement leave at her job, but they won't likely give me bereavement leave here for my wife's relative, and I don't have any vacation or personal time to use, currently.

Maybe I should've skipped Gen Con this year. I'd still have five days to play with.