life update

for those of you who read this but didn't get an email this morning, about 150 people woke up to reading this from me.... enjoy?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
greetings all from prague,

as far as my time here, prague is great... in the
mornings we attend a combinatorics conference, and we
have the afternoons for exploring. at the conference
dinner last night, i remember thinking to myself (even
if it sounds a little prosaic or something): a
european restaurant full of people discussing math and
culture in 3 languages (czech, hungarian, english)
over beers and steaks, crepes, and tea... this is what
life should always be like. :)

needless to say, i enjoy europe. :)

on another note, i got the following emails from my
mom yesterday:

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just got a call from Priscilla this morning (Wed/6:38
a.m.) that grandma is back in the hospital running 104
fever and trying to throw up. She is totally unaware
that she is at the hospital and that Cil is there.
Cil said it's the worst she's seen her...though she
also said grandma would probably be fine once they
treated her. Wanted you to know...to pray for
grandma.

I'll email you again later when I know what's going
on. If you get this and want to telephone - or give
me a phone number and time when I can reach you ,
please do...I should certainly know something by your
tomorrow afternoon.

I love you and hope you are having a wonderful time
seeing and learning new things and meeting new people.

Mom
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since I wrote earlier, Priscilla called back to say
that the nurse thinks the end may be near, unless she
responds to the antibiotic. She said that each time
the infection flares up, it takes a greater toll on
the body for someone in grandma's condition. Grandma
is having more frequent episodes of stopping breathing
- and then starting to breath again...that - in
addition to the fact that grandma has been totally
nonresponsive with anyone - is why the nurse said what
she did to Priscilla.

Talk to you later..why not wait until tomorrow to
call...or until I know more.
Love
~~~~~~~~~~~~
...and finally i read this one this morning (europe
time):
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lara,
Priscilla called about an hour ago (1 p.m.
CDT)...Grandma is in heaven! I'll be leaving here in
a couple hours, spend the night in Bowling Green and
continue on to Pgh.

Roy is in the hospital again too ... having trouble
with his pacemaker. He did get to see Grandma this
morning before they took her to the hospital...and she
did spend a couple hours in his room at Concordia on
Saturday when he got back from the hospital after last
week's surgery.

Love you!
Mom
~~~~~~~~~~~~
(roy is my step grandpa)

i feel weird that this is like the first month ever
since her first strokes in 2000 that i can't make it
back to pittsburgh on short notice for the funeral,
but so goes life... right?

prayers for...
* thanks for my grandma's amazing life and the witness
she's been throughout it, and that she's no longer in
pain, suffering, or trapped in a body severely limited
by strokes and diabetes
* safe travel for the family members currently
travelling to pittsburgh for the funeral
* patience and peace for those of us who can't make
the journey (i think one of my other cousins is in
europe, my brother's working in alabama or indiana or
something like that right now, and my mom's sister in
texas had surgery earlier this summer and is still in
recovery).. at least for me, being away from the
tighter knit support system of immediate family and
friends makes it hard to figure out how exactly to
react when i'm not in my own room at the dorm... i'll
be thankful to be around good friends who give hugs
when i get to budapest in a week and a half.

thanks

lara