GiGi

This was a difficult weekend for us. We drove to Pasadena to say goodbye to David's Grandmother. We last saw her in December 2007, and she was basically her normal self. She was talking, eating, laughing, and enjoying the visit from her grandkids and great-grandkids. Friday when we walked into her room she was in her bed propped up by pillows, and basically unresponsive. The whole family was there, and her five grandkids got to tell her goodbye. You could tell she could hear us because she'd raise her eyebrows when you'd talk to her, and she'd move her eyes around (even though they were closed most of the time.) She did open her eyes a few times, and she would say an occasional word or two.


I brought my camera with us, but I didn't take any pictures with it. I decided that I didn't want to have pictures of her in that condition. I'd rather remember her like this:

We stayed in Pasadena until about 9:30 last night. That was later than we planned, but we decided to eat barbque from Nanny's friends. It was some awesome food, let me tell you! We knew we were going to gas up in Pasadena because the gas is about 20 cents cheaper per gallon! We filled up last night for $3.65! I haven't seen gas that low in months. (Doesn't that seem retarded? I can't imagine that gas that price is even normal to us now.) Since I'm now 8 months pregnant, a trip to the bathroom during a four hour drive is a must. I asked David to stop at a safe-looking, clean place for me to use the restroom. By the time we got to Orange, TX, (and about 12:30 am)I couldn't wait any longer. David pulled into a Holiday Inn. I asked him if they even allowed people off the street to use their facilities. He said they kind of frowned on it, but they would be able to see I was big and pregnant, and should let me use it. Wrong. There were two sets of glass doors, and the second set wouldn't open without a card. I kind of stood there in shock for a second, and then went back out to the car. We had a little chuckle, and then got back in the truck. Next stop was a nice-looking, well-lit Chevron station. The lady working walked up to a little speaker thing, and motioned for me to talk to her. I told her that I needed to use the restroom. Her reply? "Oh, I'm sorry, I can't unlock the doors, so you can't use the restroom." I started laughing hysterically, and got back in the truck. David and I giggled for a few minutes before I REALLY had to go. (Laughter doesn't really help at a time like that!)

We ended up stopping at the Louisiana Welcome Center rest stop. It was clean, had security officers. At that point, I would have settled for a bush on the side of the road!