Friday, Jan. 27, 2006 - 5:54 a.m.

O Freude!

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Tarik's grandfather is starting to lose it.  Let me preface this with a little bit of information about him.  He joined the army in WWII and went to flight school.  He flew bombing missions over China, and turned 23 on VJ Day, the day the war with Japan ended.  He went on to a long and distinguished career in the Air Force living in Japan, England, Nebraska and Texas.  He retired as a Lt. Colonel, and his last assignment was with Strategic Air Command and he retired sometime in the 60's.  Much of that last leg of his military career is still classified.  He then went on to get his masters degree in Spanish and speaks it fluently.  He and Tarik's grandmother moved to Tulare, California, an agricultural center of the Joaquin Valley, and set up shop there.  He became a Baptist minister and started a church and was eventually forced out by its members because he did the HEINOUS AND DASTARDLY deed of approving and welcoming black members to the congregation!  (This WAS the 60's after all and bigots were abound.)  Eventually he ended up teaching at the local community college, retired again, and moved back to Texas to live in a town adjacent to Waco where he and Tarik's grandmother currently reside.  Tarik's grandmother is a retired school teacher.  They are very conservative and are also RAGING Democrats.  The goodness of this man knows no bounds.  The purity of his heart, his deeds, his actions, likewise.  This is a man, who when we go to a restaurant, will take the opportunity to talk to at least one or two tables of people, complete strangers, just to be friendly, and he leaves whomever he has met and talked to, smiling from ear to ear.  He is always smiling, has special nicknames for his grandchildren (including me, as I am his granddaughter by marriage), and loves to tell jokes.  So it came as quite a shock to my mother in law on Wednesday when she, her sister and my sister in law went to visit grandmother in the hospital, and grandfather tried to have them forcibly removed.  He became extremely angry and belligerent, was shouting at them, and tried to physically himself remove them from her room.  Then he tried to have the nurse force them to leave.  Luckily, she said that she had no authority to do so and kept her wits about her.  When Tarik's sister was trying to feed grandmother, he started yelling at her too and tried to have her kicked out of the room.  We don't know what provoked this outburst, and it has my mother in law scared to death as this is completely out of character for her father.  Best guess is that he is not sleeping at all.  He stays at the hospital 24/7 and does not leave grandmother's side.  He wears a wrist cuff that is tethered to her wrist as well that will alert him if she tries to get up out of bed during the night.  I can only begin to imagine the stress and anxiety he is experiencing during this time.  He loves his wife with every fiber of his being.  They truly are a love story and he needs to take care of himself as well as her.  He needs to come home for a day and sleep, and take a decent shower and get away from the hospital and the staff.  She will be fine.  He needs to make sure he is well both physically and mentally, for her.  At this pace though, he is nowhere near that state, and is doing himself and her a disservice by keeping up this pace.  Hospitals are not places you go to get well.  They are places you go to get well enough physically so that you can leave.  Healing is done at home, in familiar and comfortable surroundings with those you love.  Hospitals can also make you crazy.  I hope that when we go to the hospital this weekend that he is over his bout of "out of character."


Song Virus du Jour:  The Ode to Joy, the 4th Movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony

In German
Freude, sch�ner G�tterfunken
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!
Deine Zauber binden wieder
Was die Mode streng geteilt.
(Original: Was der Mode Schwert geteilt)
Alle Menschen werden Br�der
 (Original: Bettler werden F�rstenbr�der)
Wo dein sanfter Fl�gel weilt.
Wem der gro�e Wurf gelungen,
Eines Freundes Freund zu sein;
Wer ein holdes Weib errungen,
Mische seinen Jubel ein!
Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele
Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund!
Und wer's nie gekonnt, der stehle
Weinend sich aus diesem Bund!
Freude trinken alle Wesen
An den Br�sten der Natur;
Alle Guten, alle B�sen
Folgen ihrer Rosenspur.
K�sse gab sie uns und Reben,
Einen Freund, gepr�ft im Tod;
Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben,
Und der Cherub steht vor Gott.
Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen
Durch des Himmels pr�cht'gen Plan,
Laufet, Br�der, eure Bahn,
Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen.
Seid umschlungen, Millionen!
Diesen Ku� der ganzen Welt!
Br�der, �ber'm Sternenzelt
Mu� ein lieber Vater wohnen.
Ihr st�rzt nieder, Millionen?
Ahnest du den Sch�pfer, Welt?
Such' ihn �ber'm Sternenzelt!
�ber Sternen mu� er wohnen.
In English
Joy, beautiful spark of God,
Daughter of Elysium,
We enter, fire-drunk,
Heavenly one, your shrine.
Your magic reunites
What custom strictly parts.
 (Original: What custom's sword has parted)
All people become brothers
(Original: Beggars become princes' brothers)
Where your gentle wing alights.
Whoever has succeeded in the great attempt
To be a friend to a friend;
Whoever has won a lovely woman
Mix in your joy!
Yes, who calls even one soul
His own on the earth's sphere!
And let whoever has never achieved this
Steal away crying from this group!
All beings drink joy
At the breasts of nature;
All the good, all the bad
Follow her trail of roses.
She gave us kisses and vines,
A friend, proven in death;
Great pleasure was given to the worm,
And the cherub stands before God.
Glad, like his suns fly
Through heaven's splendid plan,
Run, brothers, your race,
Joyful, like a hero to the victory.
Be embraced, millions!
This kiss to all the world!
Brothers, over the starry firmament
Must live a loving father.
Do you bow down, millions?
Do you sense the Creator, world?
Seek him beyond the starry firmament!
He must dwell beyond the stars

Useless Trivia du Jour:  This is not so much trivia as it is a really funny quote I read this morning:  "He's so dumb he couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were on the heel."  Taken from Overheard in the Office.

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