So progress on my editing came to a screeching halt March and now that everything is resolved I feel it is time I addressed why.
My maternal grandmother has been sick for some time (this is something I have spoken about in my newsletters several times). Long story short she has battled a very aggressive cancer. During March her health took a turn for the worse and she was put on oxygen. Shortly after that proved insufficient and she had to be taken to the hospital and put on life support to be kept alive. While she was able to regain consciousness she ultimately decided that she was not willing to live with a tube down her throat, so she had it removed after making it clear that she did not want to be resuscitated should her vitals fail.
I am happy to say that most of her family was able to travel down there to be with her when they removed the tube, although unfortunately circumstances meant I was not and resorted to calling her. When the tube was removed she passed very rapidly.
There really isn’t much I can say. This is something I have known was coming for 3 years now, but in the end it happened so quickly. With how long I had to prepare for this it still surprises me how much it hurts sometimes when I think about how she is finally gone, but by the same token there is this sense of relief too. Not a joyful sort, but just this feeling of closure and the knowledge that my grandmother was in the enviable position to pick her own time, and to have everyone she loved around her during that moment.
Obviously I have not been in a mental state where I felt comfortable working on my book (or anything else for that matter), but now that everything is done and I am home I hope to resume work. My timeline will likely be pushed back some although for now I just want a moment to pick up the pieces.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.-Robert Frost
