Tuesday, December 08, 2009

juggling it all...

It's been one crazy week! Dan has been super busy with work, Jack has been on a sleep strike, trying to find time to get ready for Christmas (making gifts, decorating the apartment, etc.), doctor appointments, getting ready to head back to work in less than a month, etc.

And, I lost a really good friend. Robert Garrett was a Chemistry teacher at our school. He went to bed one night, and simply didn't wake up. He was healthy and happy and this was such an abrupt end. We all call him Garrett. Our science department is such a close knit group - family, really, so it's shocking to lose someone you're close with. He was also my neighbor. We'd carpool home from work sometimes, which were some of the funniest conversations we ever had. I really got to get him to open up and thus, got to know him really well. He was a guy who'd stick to his guns and I had a way of getting him to smile and un-Scrooging him! :) Dan and I would always bump into him at the grocery stpre or the video store. When he found out we were going to have a baby he was SO excited, and was the first person to give Jack baby toys when Jack was still in my belly. While I was pregnant he'd always use it to his advantage, weaseling me to the front of the food line at staff lunches/breakfasts. Seeing how I've been away all semester, it was weird not seeing him on a daily basis. He'd occasionally call to fill me in on good ol' work gossip. Man. Losing Garrett sucks. I really don't know how else to say it. I wish I'd taken pictures more often. He was a couple years shy of retiring and had grand plans ahead of him. I really can't stop thinking about it. His memorial is Thursday at Grace Cathedral here in SF. I am truly in a state of shock and denial. I think it'll be a great way to get closure, pay my respects and say goodbye to someone who I had really grown to love since moving here to SF a few years ago. I wish I would have told him exactly how I felt about him. I think he knew, I was never shy with hugs.

RIP, Garrett. Love you and miss you terribly already. I'll miss making you cake for your birthday in October, miss your gossip, your complaining, your excitement as you would always count down to your ski week in Whistler in February, riding in your Ford Explorer with your soap "air freshener", your tortoiseshell RayBans from the 80's (I know, I know, they're not "vintage" because you're not old!), smuggling wine into Elegant Evening in my purse because in your words, "No one will expect it from the pregnant lady!", you standing up eating your lunch every day, walking into work every morning and seeing you digging through the recycling because "people can't read and don't know how to recycle properly," the look on your face when Shannon and I would bring you lattes from Starbucks in the morning, the utter shock in your amazing voice when you'd say things like, "You know the kids these days are SEXTING? It's on their phones!" or "You guys heard about Twitter? They're all doing it!", your skills in front of the BBQ, your collection of tiny little toys your dad made that you had on display in your flat, looking up at the colorful pink, orange and yellow snowflakes in the windows of your flat all throughout winter when I pass your place. There are so many more memories, I could go on forever. I just want to write them all, so I can look back and remember you with such clarity and fondness. You're simply one of my favorite people and always will be.

1 comment:

Me said...

What a lovely post, Emily. <3

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