Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to a trip to a family gathering. When I get there, I'm going to see relatives that I haven't seen for ages, I'm going to eat sandwiches and vegetables from an assorted caterer's tray, I'm going to sing songs that I love to sing, but best of all, I'm going to hear stories. Most of the stories will be about Anne Walker, my grandfather's second wife. She died late Saturday night or Sunday morning - I'm not exactly sure.

I only fleetingly knew her as the quiet, mature, intelligent, square-jawed woman that won the heart of my dear grandpa, and then later as a frail, old woman in a nursing home that had been left with a body and a mind that she didn't deserve in her final years. I really don't know too much about how she grew up, what she did for fun with her first family, what her favorite meal was to cook, what her favorite song was .... These are all things I hope to learn tomorrow.

Thoughts of going to a funeral have filled my thoughts today, in spite of the mayhem that work and my home presented me with. I know the missus has been thinking about Anne's demise and is steeling herself for her own parents' time.

We're all a bit fragile right now.