Tough Old Bird

Usually, the first thing I do when I wake up in the afternoon is to check my voicemail and email - since I'm working while you sleep/sleeping while most of you are at work, I'm kind of hard to reach. Yesterday, there was an email from my cousin from early that morning, letting me know that my 91-year-old Grandmother (who has been battling Alzheimer's for several years) was not doing well - she had slipped into a coma several days ago, and, while she was resting comfortably, he didn't expect her to be with us much longer. Needless to say, this was not how I wanted to hear from him - the last time I saw him was when my father died unexpectedly last summer. I emailed him back, asking him to keep me informed and started making a mental checklist of what I would need to do to get to Pittsburgh in the next several days. Several minutes later, a reply appeared in my inbox - apparently at some point in the afternoon, my Grandmother opened her eyes, sat up, and asked for some chocolate ice cream.

The way I figure it, if you make it to 91, you deserve all the damn ice cream you want. Love ya, Gram.