Current mood:

sad

One overdue stroke, one premature death
So, last week I got the news that my grandfather, at 89 years old, had a stroke. He was quite active until a few years ago - just had some vision problems and various surmountable old-people problems. But he's been going downhill, and the stroke was probably overdue. He's physically ok (except for remaining arterial blockage), but now thinks it's 1956, that my dad is stil married to my mom, etc. I'm hoping to visit him next weekend during a business trip to ATL.

Then on Saturday, I got the news that my friend Eric had died. Eric was a sweet, lovely soul who had a wonderful disposition, a feminine grace, and was somehow very comfortable financially. He was sort of a decorator-to-the-stars (or at least the rich), lived in a fancy victorian in Hayes Valley, and hung out with my wrestler-friend Lisa, the blue-haired ex-barista at Laguna Sidewalk Cafe. The Cafe was a center for the neighborhood, and Eric was always there gossiping with Lisa. They were the first of dozens of neighborhood friends I met there, and he and I got to the hug-hug kiss-kiss phase. When he had cancer a few years ago, I comforted him and kept him company at the cafe.

Well, I knew he was in the hospital recently - apparently he was worse off than I thought. It was cancer in the end, but I believe he had HIV which probably contributed. He was 41.

Now, Lisa, who had worked for him, is out of a job and her best friend, and the world is a slightly less fabulous place.