Tata has to say goodbye
"Hello?" I wasn't sure who'd be on the other end of the phone but was pretty confident that it'd be a Spanish speaker.
"Hola? Quien habla?"
"Esta Chuck, hijo de Arabella." Usually when I identified myself most family members knew that I didn't speak Spanish but it didn't matter today.
"Chuck? Ah, Chuckie!" Everyone knew me as little Chuckie. "Oye, adonde esta Tata?"
"No se." I was supposed to meet my mom at my grandparents' house but no one was there, which was odd. Normally the doors are always open.
"Todo esta bien con su Tata?"
"Crerro que si. Perro no se" My grandfather has had cancer for the last few years. The chemo has made him thin and weak. He spends most of his time now at home in front of the TV watching golf. He loved the game, and was a pretty remarkable player in his hayday.
"OK, este es su tia, Ludy, have your Tata call me when he gets back."
"OK, ciao." I didn't know what else to say so I got off the phone as soon as possible. Short and sweet, that's the range of my Spanish.
I drove back home. I had been waiting at the house for about half an hour and couldn't call anyone because I had left my cell phone at home. I was a little ticked for having to wait but brushed it off and made my way back in my old Jeep Cherokee.
I tried making a phone call but my call was routed to T-Mobile. WTF? I found out that my account had been suspended, my ATM card was lost last month and when I got my new one I had forgotten to update all of my automatic payment accounts. I spoke with a customer care rep for a little over 15 minuets and got my phone turned back on. I called my mom to see what was up.
The phone rang...
My mom picked up her cell and I could hear some indiscriminate voices in the background.
"...ok, I'll go back to the house now and clean up the blood."
"Mom?"
"...see you there in about half an hour, ok? Chuckie?" Her voice was shaky.
"Ya mom. What's up? What's going on?" I was worried. Something was up and I was about to have a whole heap of shit piled on my day.
"Did you get my text?" I cursed T-Mobile, they weren't responsible but it was the first thing that came to mind.
"No, what's up?"
"Tata fell down this morning. We're at the hospital now but..." Her voice was starting to break up a little more. "The doctors said that his cancer has spread to his heart and the reason why he fell this morning was due to heart failure." She started to sob a little. I remained in complete shock, it was like watching a movie, I was totally removed yet I knew this was happening in real life now.
"They're releasing him now because there's nothing they can do for him at this point. So maybe you can come by today and see him because he probably won't be around much longer, today might be the last day to see him." Alive was the next word I thought of. Tata's train had shown up and he was taking off soon.
I looked at my watch, it was about 12 o'clock.
"I'll be there before two."
"Thank you sweetie. I'll see you then." I hung up.
What could I do? There had to be something that I could do. This man deserved better than this. Then I thought about it again. He would pass within the next few days surrounded by the family he raised and who, in turn, raised his grandchildren.
That was a good way.
I spent the next week and a half ducking in and out of the house. I worked almost every night and got over to the house maybe four or five times before he passed. The some sisters stayed there every night looking over their father. Schedules were drawn out and doses regimented based on his condition. The more I stopped in, the more I saw the family for what they really were. A unit of people taking care of one person because they loved him.
It was remarkable and almost enchanting to find that at the most unexpected of moments we dicover these genuine expressions of what it means to be human. To live, and love.
The family came together expressed nothing but love and comfort to my grandfather. As much as he tried to play off the seriousness of the situation and stubbornly insisted that people leave his room. He always had this humor about himself that was dry yet incredibly witty. Sometimes I shh students in my class during a test when one sneezes just to make a joke. It always reminded me of my Tata. I heard the sisters were going to try to compile a list his most famous ones. My favorite was, "Quiet!"
I took some time off from work to put things into perspective. Tata passed Thursday morning, I had work, a capoeira class to teach, and a lesson plan to write for Friday. I went to the house that night and a lot of the family was there. All the sister out of six, three spouses as I remember, and a good number of the 16 grandchildren showed up too.
It was my family. Those who mater most in that 9-5 life of mine. Everyone had put that life on hold to be there that night. We ate pizza, some worked on the obituary (On a side note, Gabby, ...like a gladiator... is not misplaced as it is clear that cancer does not battle, only people do). After dinner most people took off home. I stuck around for a bit marveling at the taste of budlite lime, probably make for a good chilada mixer.
"Hola? Quien habla?"
"Esta Chuck, hijo de Arabella." Usually when I identified myself most family members knew that I didn't speak Spanish but it didn't matter today.
"Chuck? Ah, Chuckie!" Everyone knew me as little Chuckie. "Oye, adonde esta Tata?"
"No se." I was supposed to meet my mom at my grandparents' house but no one was there, which was odd. Normally the doors are always open.
"Todo esta bien con su Tata?"
"Crerro que si. Perro no se" My grandfather has had cancer for the last few years. The chemo has made him thin and weak. He spends most of his time now at home in front of the TV watching golf. He loved the game, and was a pretty remarkable player in his hayday.
"OK, este es su tia, Ludy, have your Tata call me when he gets back."
"OK, ciao." I didn't know what else to say so I got off the phone as soon as possible. Short and sweet, that's the range of my Spanish.
I drove back home. I had been waiting at the house for about half an hour and couldn't call anyone because I had left my cell phone at home. I was a little ticked for having to wait but brushed it off and made my way back in my old Jeep Cherokee.
I tried making a phone call but my call was routed to T-Mobile. WTF? I found out that my account had been suspended, my ATM card was lost last month and when I got my new one I had forgotten to update all of my automatic payment accounts. I spoke with a customer care rep for a little over 15 minuets and got my phone turned back on. I called my mom to see what was up.
The phone rang...
My mom picked up her cell and I could hear some indiscriminate voices in the background.
"...ok, I'll go back to the house now and clean up the blood."
"Mom?"
"...see you there in about half an hour, ok? Chuckie?" Her voice was shaky.
"Ya mom. What's up? What's going on?" I was worried. Something was up and I was about to have a whole heap of shit piled on my day.
"Did you get my text?" I cursed T-Mobile, they weren't responsible but it was the first thing that came to mind.
"No, what's up?"
"Tata fell down this morning. We're at the hospital now but..." Her voice was starting to break up a little more. "The doctors said that his cancer has spread to his heart and the reason why he fell this morning was due to heart failure." She started to sob a little. I remained in complete shock, it was like watching a movie, I was totally removed yet I knew this was happening in real life now.
"They're releasing him now because there's nothing they can do for him at this point. So maybe you can come by today and see him because he probably won't be around much longer, today might be the last day to see him." Alive was the next word I thought of. Tata's train had shown up and he was taking off soon.
I looked at my watch, it was about 12 o'clock.
"I'll be there before two."
"Thank you sweetie. I'll see you then." I hung up.
What could I do? There had to be something that I could do. This man deserved better than this. Then I thought about it again. He would pass within the next few days surrounded by the family he raised and who, in turn, raised his grandchildren.
That was a good way.
I spent the next week and a half ducking in and out of the house. I worked almost every night and got over to the house maybe four or five times before he passed. The some sisters stayed there every night looking over their father. Schedules were drawn out and doses regimented based on his condition. The more I stopped in, the more I saw the family for what they really were. A unit of people taking care of one person because they loved him.
It was remarkable and almost enchanting to find that at the most unexpected of moments we dicover these genuine expressions of what it means to be human. To live, and love.
The family came together expressed nothing but love and comfort to my grandfather. As much as he tried to play off the seriousness of the situation and stubbornly insisted that people leave his room. He always had this humor about himself that was dry yet incredibly witty. Sometimes I shh students in my class during a test when one sneezes just to make a joke. It always reminded me of my Tata. I heard the sisters were going to try to compile a list his most famous ones. My favorite was, "Quiet!"
I took some time off from work to put things into perspective. Tata passed Thursday morning, I had work, a capoeira class to teach, and a lesson plan to write for Friday. I went to the house that night and a lot of the family was there. All the sister out of six, three spouses as I remember, and a good number of the 16 grandchildren showed up too.
It was my family. Those who mater most in that 9-5 life of mine. Everyone had put that life on hold to be there that night. We ate pizza, some worked on the obituary (On a side note, Gabby, ...like a gladiator... is not misplaced as it is clear that cancer does not battle, only people do). After dinner most people took off home. I stuck around for a bit marveling at the taste of budlite lime, probably make for a good chilada mixer.
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