Sometimes the best laid plans don't work out

Life happens. After a filling homemade chili meal over at my parent's place we settled down to watch The Amazing Race, then I was going to start up on clearing my newly minted Empire bonus. I got into watching this show after my sister-in-law mentioned how good it was. Sadly half way through the show my wife got a call. Since no one but the people at the house knew where we were, warning bells went up. It was my mother-in-law calling from the North Memorial hospice. My wife's grandfather, who we thought was getting better, had his lung collapse while they were draining from fluid from it. If you've never been to a hospice before, it is probably the most depressing place in a hospital. All hope is lost, no more treatments, no more "this could cure it" statements, just death. But, one can look at this place as a place to die, I choose to look at it as a place to let go. Most of the rooms I passed by had people in the bed who could barely blink, let alone move. But 95% of them had the chatter of relatives and children to watch them as they took the final step before passing on. I could only wish the same will happen to me. Little Drizz, his wife, and three kids asking grandpa to play one more hand of poker before they fly back to Vegas to compete in the WSOP. My wife's grandfather has suffered through multiple surgeries due to cancer and other health problems in the past 5 years. I think this is an ending to a wonderful life that he had. My wife says she's ok with it, but I know from experience that she'll need someone to hold for the next week at least as she's never had to deal with the loss of someone close.

Moving to my new house, another wedding to attend, a funeral to plan, plus moving back to my old job all wrapped up into one week. Anyone got a beer or four? I think I'm going to try to sneak in some poker if there's any free time. Its a way to step back from reality much like playing the MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot was. Instead of racking up realm points and gold pieces on my Blademaster, I'll be trading chips with floating names and avatars while listening to 80s Metal/Rock/Pop/Love Songs. Good luck everyone :)