Catching Up - Part Uno

Oh, friends.  It has been such a month, I don't even know where to begin.  I think I might break this post into a few separate posts so that it's not so long and drawn out.  I know you all know what this is building up to, but it's cathartic for me to relive the past month a bit, so kindly bear with.

Several weeks ago, we headed down to Little Rock to see my grandfather before his major surgery.  I didn't mention it in this post, but Pawpaw was diagnosed with bladder cancer a few months ago and had not been responding to treatment, so he made the rather difficult and radical decision to have his bladder removed.  My mother, aunts, grandmother, and he were headed out the next week to drive to Nashville for the procedure.  Knowing it is a very major surgery, I wanted to head down beforehand and wish him luck.