39 thoughts on “Home Again”

1. The last 3 paragraphs of your post are huge links, and links that are broken, yet.
   Just an FYI.

2. Heh.
   Thanks, Mike. I fixed it.
   And thanks also to John, who helped me fix my stupid comment error.

3. Welcome back, Wil. And good luck with your work outside of writing. With any luck we’ll see you back on TV (and out of reruns) soon.

4. Nice pictures! It looks like you guys had a good time on your trip.

5. Welcome home Wil! I spent last summer working in Folsom. It’s a nice place. Hot as hades in the summer, but other than that it’s all right. I will be praying for Grandma Beth and Grandpa Joe.

6. Perdy pic-chores vat oy sawded wiv moy ize.
   I’m sorry to hear your Grandma isn’t doing so well.
   I shall crank up the Posi-mojo-o-tron-inator.
   It’s nice to have the ones you love to yourself for a while.
   I made mine permanent by having all of my loved ones frozen and placed in my wardrobe.

7. —- SNIP —-
   And thanks also to John, who helped me fix my stupid comment error.
   Posted by wil at October 28, 2003 05:12 PM
   —- SNIP —-
   Are you talking about the Gator Comment, or the Comments Java Link?
   HA HA !!

8. wb, wil. i hope Grandma Beth isn’t in too much pain.

9. Sorry about your grandmother Wil. My grandfather has been ill for a while, and the fear and worry often weighs heavy.
   I understand how you feel, not wanting your ‘Anne’ time to end. My boyfriend and I rarely get to see each other alone; even though we live together. Between work, friends and other engagements (We both do local theatre), it seems that the ‘us’ time is the first thing that gets neglected. We sometimes have to ask each other out on a date just to get to spend some time together.

10. It is so hard to watch someone you care about get sick, but almost harder to watch the spouse of that person try to keep it together for them both. Good luck to you and your family.

11. Wil,
    I’m sure you’re glad to be home! I usually am after a trip, but because of my being in High School still, I don’t get out as often as I would sometimes wish. I’m busy in theatre and such… For the record, I’m one of your newest biggest fans~ GO WIL! I now have my blog online, that’s the link I gave above, but the other parts of my site are still offline, which is where your link is. Maybe I will just mention your site in my blog for now…

12. Sorry to hear about your grandma, Wil. It’s hard to watch the people you love get sick. Take some advice from someone who’s been there: don’t miss a single opportunity to tell them you love them. Even just calling them up out of the blue and telling them so. They’ll love you for it, and you’ll be glad you did.

13. Wil, I like how you always are able to see the beauty and the positive things among the depressing awful things we all have to deal with sometimes. That’s one of the best things about reading your blog – I try to be this way myself, and surround myself with like people, but there aren’t enough of them in real life… so it’s nice that you’re out there on the web. 🙂 And by the way, I love the pics in the moBlog… keep ’em coming!

14. Welcome home, Wil. I am reading Great Expectations and last night I was reading before I went to bed. I was kind of finding it weird/funny the way Pip’s friend kept referring to his father as “aged parent” and talking non-sensical words to him because he knew he couldn’t hear; however, he kept making gestures that made his father very happy. As the chapter concludes, it becomes apparent how much he cares for him. So, I guess it’s in the gesture of what we do that can mean more than a thousand words to someone who is old and sick and needs that reassurance that they are loved.

15. Those fires are looking pretty wild. Has anyone seen the pics from space? 600,000 acres of fire is pretty damn big. Are they close to your neck of the woods there, big willy?

16. I wish there was some kind of insight I could give on grandparents with ahlz. I’ve been going through the same thing for years with my grandfather. He is very late in the progression of the disease now.
    See her as often as you can. There will come a time when she can’t be at home anymore, when her safety and health will be more important than the fact that both of them want to stay there by themselves. Start planning for it now.
    Too often families are in denial about it for far too long and end up with an emergency, or worse.
    It sucks. But it’ll make it easier when the time comes to go to some kind of care facility.
    The whole thing just sucks.

17. It’s funny, ashes from wildfires like this are the closest thing us Angelenos have to regular snowfall. And the smoke makes it like it’s sunset all day long (culminating in an awesome sunset when the sun is actually reaching the horizon).
    Huh huh, I said culminating.
    Sorry to hear about your grandma. Having recently lost my maternal grandfather to Alzheimer’s, I’ve been kinda depressed to find out that my paternal grandmother is having more and more memory problems too. I think other peoples’ mortality is even harder to face than one’s own mortality. I hope everything goes as well as it can, and that you’re able to see her plenty more.

18. Good luck this week, Wil. Have good meetings!

19. On a similar note to the awesomeness of the smoke clouds, if one takes a look at the nice red sun created by the smoke, you can see two very large dark spots on it. I’m guessing sunspots but they could be planets as well. All the same, it’s the first time I’ve ever observed the sun without the use of a telescope and screen. Just take care not to burn out your retinas people.
    M

20. I need to come here more often; you’ve got one of the greatest blogs on the web.
    Glad you made it back safe. Sorry about Grandma Beth. My grandfather passed away a year or so ago, so I understand what you’re going through. I hope everything turns out alright.

21. Don’t ya wish they made a left-handed watch??

22. Hi Wil
    I ordered on of your books form amazon.com because I’m form the UK, since you’ve sold out does that mean I’m not getting a copy until the reprint?
    Spike
    11.03GMT

23. Hi there, Wil! I know the pain that you and Anne are going through. One of my best friends, my Uncle John, passed away 3 weeks ago after a VERY hard battle with cancer. My mom and I were his primary care takers. It is hard to watch someone you love so much fall apart. Near the end when he was on pain management, John was very confused and unable to recgonize things, people, and places that he had known forever. I have some advice. You can take it or leave it: Spend time with the person while you can. It’s much easier to stay away when someone is falling apart, but that is when they need you the most. Visit when you can and when you can’t call. It is amazing the things that people can tell you when they are watching their lives disappear around them. Some of the best conversations that my uncle and I had were in the middle of the night when I came in to give him his medication. He had things he wanted to share with me. It made him feel better that someone loved him enough to take even a small period of time out of their lives to speak with him. And, it makes it easier on you, when they can no longer function normally, that you had these wonderful bits of conversation to look back upon! Tell her everything you want her to know!
    Hang in there and give Anne a big hug for me!

24. hey wil,
    you’ll have to let us know when the B&B opens… i’ll be heading down to folsom early next year, and would love a chance to be in a B&B instead of the dad’s house.

25. Blessings to you and your family in regards to your grandma.
    I’m an x-californian so it pains me so to see it burning. On the other hand, baring the intensionally set fires, fire is a natural process. You can look back 1000s of years and see that when brush gets too thick; trees too diseased – there were fires. It cleanses the areas and is nutritious for the soil. You’ll be amazed at how fast the natural stuff repairs itself. Be sure to visit the burned out area often to see the wonderful flowers and plants that grow. On the other hand its devestating for those that live thru (been thru it myself in N. Cal.). For the aftermath – CA’ians just need to remember to balance the “legistate against it happening again” with the fact it is a natural process. That don’t use shake roofs!!
    Good Luck!

26. Just a note to everyone- it’s ANNE’s grandma, not Wil’s… he said that like 5 times… (not that that fact will make it any less painful when God calls her home…)
    Wil, I’m sending all the extra health mojo that I’m not sending down to MY grandma in Long Beach up to Portland (or where ever Anne’s grandma is)…
    PS- Tell Anne thanks for bringing the rain up with her( we need it) 🙂

27. Glad you’re back Wil. Glad you had a good time. Mad cause I don’t have one of those cool camera phones.

28. Welcome Back Wil,
    I can sympathise somewhat with what you and Anne may have felt with the Grandparents. My Grandmother is now in the late stages of Dementure, and it has been sad and painful watching a woman I remember as a child being so strong fade away.
    The hardest part is dealing with the forgetfulness. Whilst the repeating of the stories is bearable, later, the stories will blend together, and events will change in them. It is tough not to try and correct them all the time, and to get to the final stages where, if they know who you are, its only as “brother” or “sister” and all other relationships have no meaning is perhaps the hardest part of all.
    Don’t give up on them ! even for the times you are with them it has meaning to you all !

29. Yes, please post the name of the B&B, Will. I’ll be in the Folsom area soon, too, and would love to know of a nice place to stay! I hope your Grandmother gets better…

30. Hey Wil, good to have you back. I really hope Beth and Joe will be alright. MOJO to them!
    And even tho I know L.A. is a big place, I hope you guys will be safe.
    Quite freaky to hear about those fires.
    All the best,
    Patty 🙂

31. Wil,
    Looks like nice pictures from a great trip. I am glad that the lunch let down or car scare did not ruin your weekend. Good luck with your busy week.
    FG

32. So sorry to hear about Anne’s Grandma.. My prayers are with your family..

33. Yeah thanks dake for pointing out that it is Anne’s grandmother who is sick, but I’m sure Wil feels like she is HIS grandmother too anyway!! Sheesh!! Picky Picky!
    Lots of healing and courage to both grandparents!!

34. Grandma Beth and Grandpa Joe are in our prayers. So is everyone in the family. Sure hope everyone is holding up well.
    “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” John 3:16

35. Forest fires are strange and fantastic. Yesterday when I was driving home, I was able to see the fire on the mountain in Boulder. (The Overland fire.) It’s frightening but exhilerating. Last year I was outside when the smoke cloud from the Hayman fire hit Denver. The sky turned black and ash fell like snow. It always makes me wish I were on a Hotshot crew; I’m actually certified as a firefighter, but there’s not a lot I can do since I’m not currently employed as one. Very frustrating.
    I’ll think good thoughts for your grandparents.

36. Thats what I get for being out of town heh, I live in folsom, would have liked to meet you and your family!
    Oh well, maybe another time.
    Dustin

37. My thoughts to you and your family regarding your grandmother’s health. I am at this moment waiting in Vegas, for my son to return from Sherman Oaks where he attended a funeral for a member of his father’s family. So your post was poigniant and sweet. Also gave me more awareness of what’s between me and him to get home, then the msn. Thanks, I think.
    My prayers that in spring, you have a nice visit. And some more time with your wife.

38. today i subed to your rss and spent some time looking at your pictures and reading. thanks for sharing. moon

39. i’m glad you had a good time, and i’m sorry about anne’s grandmother.
    just a thought. my grandfather has pretty well advanced alzheimer’s and is now in a home, but my grandmother was taking care of him for quite awhile. i don’t know what the financial means of the g-parents are in your case, but if you contact the local senior centers, state social servics people, etc, there is often money available to have a helper (usually a CNA or someone like that) to come a few times a week up to a few times a month so that grandpa can have a break and some professional help.
    when my grandmother and other family had to be constantly caring for my grandpa, it got REALLY hard on them, and he didn’t get the kind of care that was best. people stopped relating to him as another person. it was really really sad. i was visiting once and caught him telling himself “i love you” into the bathroom mirror. i would always scratch his back, tell him i loved him, but i live about 6 hours away.
    anyway, this is probably stuff to think about further down the road, but do remember that the best thing you all can do is to not let people fall into the trap of “your grandmother is gone, that’s not your grandmother,” because it is. (i’m sure you and anne would remember that. you seem like sensitive souls.)
    best of luck with everything. do know that we’re all thinking of you.

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