I met my paternal grandfather for the first time yesterday. It wasn't as dramatic as it sounds, the short version of the story is this:
My Dad was born in Hollywood, CA in 1943. He lived here until he was 8. His Dad hauled ass when he was five. My Dad and his Mom ( who was crazy as a shit-house rat, pardon my language ) moved to Houston. My grandmother remarried ( to a real motherfucker, incidentally ) and that's that.
My Dad never heard from his Dad again.
For 60ish years.
A month or so ago, Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles contacted him regarding "conservatership" of his father. His dad's a wee bit senile now and they have to deal with his finances and had to make a concerted effort to locate any living relatives before they could legally take over. So, they made the effort, found my Dad and here we are.
It goes without saying that all this shit is presently and has historically affected my life and my whole family. It's a bit much to digest currently, but I do feel better having typed it all out.
I'm still not sure how I really feel about any of it. Shit, I'm here for MY dad, not because I was wanting some huggy, tearful reunion with a man I've never met. That shit's for bad movies and "very special" TV episodes.
Other observations:
1. We're technically in Beverly Hills and I've never seen so goddamn many Mercedes and BMWs. They're like the Honda Accords of Beverly Hills.
2. The weather here is totally amazing. They were complaining about how hot it was and I wanted to say ( in my deepest Texuuuuus drawuuuuul ), "Ya'll don't know shit about hot".
3. Although my sister and I share very little in common, we both find spending four consecutive days with our parents very trying.
I'm going to the Commerce tonight, alone, to play some poker and deflate a little.
5 comments:
Hang in there. Kick some yuppie ass. Your g-pa's hat is dapper. Steal it from him and bring it to me.
If Mels gets a hat, then I want one of those "I Love Hollywood T-Shirts". And you don't even have to steal it. Unless of course you really want to. Which would make for an interesting story.
We're currently about 150 miles from LA, about to head into Death Valley on the way home. Projected high, 117. Wish us luck.
I hope you did good at The Commerce. Don't wait a month to post your results! (or send me an email and tell me how you did.)
I played baby NL at the Commerce ($40 max buy in w/ 1/2 blinds ) I think over the course of 2 or 3 hours I ended up $7 to the good.
wooooooo!
I'm still stunned at how clueless people are about the game ( but it was the retard section, so I guess that accounts for a lot of it )
I have something new to add. Tell every asshole out there that I am currently in an apt building that has had no AC since Friday morning. My thermostat reads 91 and I am still here. They can suck it up.
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