The last few weeks have been busy. Fall is typically hectic anyway, all on our own accord. I fly up to Seattle to enjoy most Washington Huskies home games with my family. The holidays, which we also spend in the Seattle area, add to the busyness. This year, we’ve thrown in our first ever Wandering in Disney hosted trip to Japan (please forgive the shameless plug in a personal story).

That’s where I am now, sitting in a hotel room after a long but great few days at Tokyo Disney Resort and in the city. I came a few days before the rest of the group as I wanted to work on a few specific posts for the site as well as adjust to the time difference before leading 4 other couples through Japan. It’s a beautiful, busy life.

I had all of these plans to get ahead in writing some posts before we left but that didn’t happen. A little less than 2 weeks ago, we rushed up to Seattle earlier than planned the day my grandma passed away. While I think Melissa and I (as well as the rest of the family) are all exhausted in different ways, I’m grateful that we could be together through that time.

A few years ago, I visited my grandma at her house. She told me that she would pull out old Christmas letters that I wrote and reread them, doing the same with my brother’s letters. I wish I could tell her how much it meant to me when she told me that I was a good writer and that I should do it more often. She might not have had attraction rankings and restaurant reviews in mind when saying that to me, but I took her advice and ran with it. Without her, this site probably wouldn’t be what it is today so I wanted to take a post to write about her.

Granny, as I called her, had seen her health rapidly decline in the last 9 months. Yesterday would have been her 89th birthday. A year ago, she was a sharp 88 year old woman who really loved cake and seeing her family. She’d keep me on my toes, constantly asking when we were going to move back from Anaheim to Washington. I’d always try to remind her that I saw her just as much while living in California as when I lived in Seattle, as she was a few hours east of there in Yakima. I thought it was a good argument but she never did. Somewhere along the way, I realized that she was probably trying to look out for other members of the family as much as herself while needling me with those questions.

Just after Christmas last year, her health quickly deteriorated along with her memory. One hospital stint after another left my sassy grandma frustrated and I don’t blame her one bit. Toward the end of her life, dementia had really took hold and she wasn’t sure who was who anymore. My mom, who was with her the most out of all of the family, handled it gracefully.

Before that, grandma lived a difficult but full life. My brother (the real writer in the family) summed it up well in her obituary. Through all of the pain and heartbreak granny endured, she was there for us – ready to watch a movie, eat some cake and maybe bicker a little bit. She liked to play Scrabble and drink margaritas with her friends in the later years, something I’m also hoping to do in my 80’s if I make it that long. I’d ask granny who won that week’s Scrabble game every time I saw her and she would say that she did every single time. The conviction with which she’d say it left me never doubting her.

Grandma passed away peacefully in her sleep, about 12 hours after another trip to the hospital. Dementia turning her into a shell of the person she was eased some of the sadness of seeing her go. She wouldn’t want us to remember her that way, even if she still fiercely cared and showed off a little stubbornness until the very end. Even when you see that a loved one’s time is nearing an end, grief still manages to sneak in and deliver a gut punch now and then.

A blog about theme parks isn’t the best place to write about the fragility of life. I’m no expert on the matter and hope to never be. These last few weeks, including her passing, a memorial service, a flight to Japan and so much more, struck me. As quick as one day I was in the states and the next I’m in Tokyo, one day granny was here and the next she wasn’t. There’s no preparing for that even if I’m glad she’s resting easy now.

We can pull out that famous Ferris Bueller quote about life moving really fast, which is certainly true, and tie this post up in a functional bow. There’s never a bad time to smell the roses and let people in your life know that you love them; maybe go buy them a coffee and give them a hug. But that wasn’t really my point.

In my mind, grandma and this site are connected. Her telling me to write more had a lasting impact and I wish I’d sent her more posts and articles while she was here. I’m looking forward to writing her more stories one day. Until then, this one’s for her. Thank you, granny. I’ll keep writing and think of you all the while.