Early Morning Phone Calls

Sometimes, when the phone rings, even if it's the same phone (or computer in my case), with the same digital ring-tone, and caller ID indicates the same person is calling, you just get a feeling that something is different this time. Last Tuesday the phone rang at 7:30am, naturally it was my father waking me up from a very cozy sleep. Unnaturally, I answered the phone pleasantly.

"Have you read your email in the last few hours?" he asked. He still doesn't get that I sleep at night and he wakes me up, but I was still getting the vibe that this time, I shouldn't point out how irritating he is.

My father had sad news, although it wasn't entirely unexpected. His father, my grandfather, Alfred Hamberg, had passed away in the night. I wish I could say that he passed peacefully and without pain, but that's not true. I think that my uncle was there with him. My grandmother had seen him over the weekend. At 94, Opa lived a long, full life and had lots to be proud of.

The funeral was on Thursday, the same day as my mid-year exam. My cousin missed two finals. My sister took a red-eye across the country after she was done with her exams. I was the only one who wasn't there. There was no way I could've made the exam and the funeral. In fact, living in Rauland, it was unlikely that I could have left when I got my dad's call and made the funeral.

I hear the service was small, but nice. I hear that a lot of people came to visit my grandmother and my uncle at the apartment afterward. Sometimes I feel very far away from my family.