Stunt. Hard.

Life changing events just don't happen as often as they used to. The most important and meaningful person in my life was faced with a challenge that I could not help with no matter how hard I tried recently. My Grandfather had his third heart-attack while I was at a concert oblivious to the outside world.

Four hours after I had gotten the initial text from my mother that sent the night into a downward spiral, (Go home. Get jacob. Meet us in hospital. Abuelo.) he was in surgery getting a pacemaker put into his chest and I was stuck sitting with my head in my hands in a hospital waiting room. The last time this had happened I was eight years old and couldn't comprehend just how serious it was. I was just a kid. This time I knew exactly what was happening and I was numb and confused at the same time. Why did this happen now? How did this happen again? The unthinkable crossed my mind and I quickly gulped and shoved the thought into the deep abyss of my mind.

I have never been one to sit. I always need to do something active or move around. I was paralyzed in fear holding my grandmothers hand and refusing to let go as if I was a baby. I had been sitting in a waiting room for borderline fifteen hours, my phone was dead and all I wanted and needed was my grandfather to come out and make a perverted joke or to ask me how school or work was going and then threaten to throw my ass into a raft and send me back so Fidel could deal with me if I wasn't doing well.

After a day and a half in the hospital my grandfather was in recovery but still not concious. I went home to sleep and dreamt of a lot of things. This was unusual as I don't usually dream. I dreamt of my grandfather and Sukkot* (the Jewish holiday that started last Wednesday). He came into the Sukkah (A hut built to remind the Jewish people of the 40 years spent wandering in the desert where all meals are eaten during an eight day period) and told me everything was going to be all right. I woke up in a sweat and called my mom. She reassured me my grandfather was doing better and to come back if I wanted to. I drove back to the hospital and I walked into the recovery room. He was out of it but still managed to give me a wink and a smile and said "Papo I need one of these nurses to give me a good doming (a word that I taught him) or something, I feel like shit." I almost cried hearing this because to me it meant he was ok. Even my grandmother laughed when he said this (I don't think she knew what it meant).

My grandfather has the same mentality as the Dude. He lives every single day like he wants to. He answers to nobody and runs things in his life. He just enjoys himself to the fullest because he understands everything can be gone in a second. The Dude abides, the Dude Survives. So does Julio Grosfeld.

*Sukkot emphasizes the tenuousness of our lives, the fragility of our existence and the temporariness of our sojourn