1914-2009

I never thought that after the last post things would change so much. A little over a week ago, My grandfather, the one this blog is about, passed away. Ago was 94. He was in and out of hospitals and nursing homes for about five weeks. Apparently, back during Memorial Day, he might of suffered some kind of stroke affected his swallowing. Food and water would not go to his stomach, but to his lungs, and that would cause him to have aspirated pneumonia. A feeding tube was then inserted in him and then that was his demise. Once he had the feeding tube, I began to notice he was no longer the Ago that I knew. I didn't want to think that things would never go back to the way they were, but once he went to rehab (to relearn how to swallow) I think we all had a feeling.

So now he is physically gone but he lives on in us and our memories. Though, I don't think I realized how big of a part of my life he was. It seems like there is a big empty hole in my life. I keep waiting for him to come back, but yet I know that he isn't. Last weekend, I went to his place to pick out a few things that I wanted. Some of the things that he had were special to me and instead of throwing them out or giving them away i brought them back with me. But, I couldn't bring myself to go through his closet too much because I kept thinking he's going to be back and he's not going to be able to find anything. I didn't want to clean the dishes because that was probably one of the last things he did before he was taken to the hospital. It was difficult because everything evoked so many memories. I inventoried his vitamins and i remember when he bought some of them. The frustration on my face when he would tell me the name of the one and I had no f-ing idea of what he was talking about. Still brings me a smile. I realize that i well never have one of those moments again.

Right now, I'm thinking and feeling different emotions, but as time progresses I'll be able to organize my thoughts into what I want to say.

By the way, this is the last picture we took of Ago. It might be hard to see but Ago was smiling in the picture. He was super excited because we were going to "that store" and the Vitamin Shoppe, so it was a double outing. On the carrito is the "I'm A Longhorn Grandpa" bumper sticker. I couldn't help myself from putting it on! This is also classic Ago, hat, bastón, and carrito, three things we can never leave home without.