(no subject)

[angela_o]

I haven't had the energy to update recently due to RL stresses. My grandmother has just been diagnosed with multiple organ Stage III cancer and had surgery yesterday. The prognosis is grim. She's my last remaining grandparent and it will be very strange to have her go, although I'd rather have her go sooner than later if it will avoid unbearable pain.

Since I've heard the news, all sorts of memories have been running through my mind. Granny inadvertently influenced my life in some major ways that I doubt she knows. When I was little and would go to visit her there were always stacks of romance novels scattered around. Being a reader from way back, I would always manage to snag a couple and read them while visiting trying to avoid letting my mother see what I was reading in case she thought it wasn't "appropriate" reading material for me. As we all know, romance novels are always set against the backdrop of some major upheaval and crisis just to up the drama level that little bit more. Wars, rumors of wars, and the like. I ate it up with a spoon and my love of history was firmly established and continued to grow. While in high school, I was surprised to find how many random historical facts I'd absorbed reading Granny's bodice rippers. As I went into my Junior history seminar at Yale on the origins on the Pacific War and looked around at all the male faces surrounding me, I thought to myself that I was probably the only person in the room who'd ended up there because they'd read their grandmother's romance novels in their formative years.

Things won't be the same without her.

Comments

[emluv.livejournal.com]

So sorry about your grandmother, hon. {{{hugs}}} Hang in there.

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Hanging is pretty much all that can be done. {hugs back}

[janajoh.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry about your grandmother. {{{Big Hugs}}}!!!!

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I know you're all too familiar with the pains of losing family. {hugs back}

[tasyfa.livejournal.com]

*hugs you* No, things won't be the same but you'll never lose the impact she's had on your life. It's a thought I find comforting, anyway. :) *more hugs*

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

It is comforting to realize that a person's impact on your life doesn't disappear just because they're gone. Thanks for sharing that. *hugs you and the kitties in the icon*

[marcolette.livejournal.com]

That's a fabulous story about your grandmother. I'm glad you're able to bring those kinds of memories up in a hard time. (((Hugs)))

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It's funny all the random memories that pop into your head at times like these. {hugs back}

How is life with you? Your LJ has been very quiet lately. Is life in Seattle treating you well?

[marcolette.livejournal.com]

Seattle is treating me well, and I'll be updating this week to talk about that, about why I have been so silent, why I've changed my username, etc. It's all good, though. Nothing traumatic or anything. Just a kind of stressful adjustment process.

I hope you're doing well!
(soleil_matinal)

[muffinkath7.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother, Angela. My prayers are with your family.

As for the romance novels, they are EXACTLY the reason I got interested in history too. :) Something else we have in common. I would read about a new period in a romance novel, then go investigate further in more serious books.

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

How funny. Yet another thing that we have in common. Who would have thought that we'd turn out to be so similar. lol

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers as well. I know that they help.

[michak.livejournal.com]

Hon, I am sorry to hear about your grandmother and my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. In the end, when you lose someone, we are left with the memories of how they enriched our lives. *hugs*

[angela-o.livejournal.com]

Thanks Micha. She's definitely been an impact on my life and when all is said and done, no one is truly gone if they're remembered by those they leave behind. *hugs you too*