katie allison granju

Memorials for Ward July 31, 2005

I have been with James and Julie some today. They are obviously in agony. Our family takes some comfort in the fact that several other families all over the country received word last night that because of J & J’s decision to donate Ward’s organs, other babies and toddlers will have a chance at life. At this point, we know for certain that children in Memphis and Indianapolis will be organ recipients.

Apparently James and Julie can write letters to the receiving families, telling them about Ward, and if the families want to, they can get in touch with James and Julie. I hope this connection happens.

All the young Allison, Tant and Granju cousins were told about Ward’s death this morning and are each grieving in their own way. That’s really hard for all of us. The cousins are a tight bunch

My littlest, Elliot, really took it hard. Julie is his godmother and he just spent a week staying with them and playing with Jack, Gray and Ward. He had made a get-well package for Ward with, among other things, a quarter, a lucky buckeye, a feather, two yugioh cards and a picture of the great wall of china that he cut out of a magazine.

Ward’s brothers, Gray and Jack, look shellshocked. Julie is so amazing; when I was over there earlier, she was bustling around fixing the boys their lunch. She’s such, such a great mama.

As for me, I feel a bit like there has been a rip in the cosmos or something. I definitely have a “this simply cannot be happening” feeling a lot of the time. You read and hear about this happening to other families, but never, ever imagine it could happen to your own.

When I was walking my 4 year old nephew, Jones and my 6 year old niece Eleanor downtown for ice cream earlier, and we were talking about Ward, it felt completely surreal… I simply could not believe I was having this conversation with them about Ward.

One of the hardest parts for me was how my grandfather, who is 87, broke down and sobbed when I saw him today. My grandparents live less than one block away from James and Julie and they see Gray, Jack and Ward pretty much every day. This loss is incredibly painful for them. I am very close to my grandparents and I have never, ever seen my grandfather cry.

Our family is so grateful to everyone in Bell Buckle, the Webb School community and all over the country for all the calls and e-mails and general outpouring of love. All of Bell Buckle is festooned with beautiful blue ribbons in memory of our sweet baby Wardy.

The new playground in Bell Buckle is going to be finished in memory of Edward Locke Anderson.

Here is a note from my Uncle John, Ward’s grandfather:

“Friends,

Again, thank you for everything. - John

Ward died last night at Vanderbilt Childrens Hospi…

Ward died last night at Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital. Our entire family is completely heartbroken.

James and Julie, Gray and Jack, came home last night to Bell Buckle. J&J are in seclusion and are feeling the need for a lot of privacy right now, but you can come by my mother’s house or call there if you want to talk or offer condolences or send something for James and Julie or the boys, and we will get it over to them.

No arrangements have yet been made, but I will keep folks apprised.

-Katie

Ward has had a very, very serious setback related … July 30, 2005

Ward has had a very, very serious setback related to his EEG results.

Please continue to hold him and his parents, James and Julie, as well as his brothers, Jack and Gray, in your thoughts.

I will update when more info is available.

-Katie

ward update - friday nite

This photo of Ward was taken only an hour or so before his accident. He was apparently quite intrigued with this bug

Here, from my little brother, Robert, the latest on Ward as of Friday night. We are cautiously optimistic. There have been small improvements and no deterioration. We’ll take that:

“It has now been 72 hours since he was pulled from the water. This is significant in that, statistically, you have a much better chance of making it when you have made it this long. They have removed his neck brace and have pulled out his nose tubes. He is on a regular ventilator and his lungs are absorbing oxygen well (they were not doing this at first).

I will continue to keep you posted.”

and here is a note from tonight from Ward’s grandfather, my Uncle John Anderson:

“Dear friends,

I don’t mean to wax maudlin, but you all really have touched us very deeply. Thank you. I know that I will never succeed at communicating the gratitude we all feel.

the week from hell marches on… July 29, 2005

Last night I forgot to put my parking brake on and when I came out of my house this morning, my 2 day old new (to me) car had crashed into my fence, which was wrapped around the front of my car.

After weeping, cursing, and much gnashing of teeth, I managed to extricate the Jetta from the fence and discovered no major damage, just a lot of scratches.

My next door neighbor says I can get some sort of something at some kind of automotive store to buff these scratches out of the car. He says I should then wax it really well with some kind of special carwax.

Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to be able to provide any further details — like what this buffing stuff is called or what kind of wax he means.

Anybody got any thoughts on this? Or should I just take it some kind of place that fixes stuff like this?

Katie, car idiot…or maybe just an idiot, considering I let this happen.

PS: Hey Betsy B.K. and Stephanie J.E. - It just occurred to me that this incident reminds me of a certain Bell Buckle Ford-Fairlane-into-closed-metal-gate incident. In fact, the scratch marks look remarkably similar. I kept saying to myself, “Why do these scratchmarks look so familiar to me?”

update on baby ward

Ward is still in a coma and on a ventilator today, but we had some encouraging news from his CAT scan, which he got last night.

The doctors say the next 48 hours are critical in terms of his longterm brain injury and how serious it is or is not. His brain will apparently continue to swell for the next day or two before beginning to heal, and how much it swells is an important indicator.

Thank you so, so much to everyone thinking of him and his parents and his two brothers, Jack and Gray.

Here is a recent photo of Ward that my mom sent me today

I feel especially thankful for a particular group of mother-friends I have all over the country and really the world, who have been with me through several really serious life events in the past ten years and who all lit candles for Ward last night. Thank you. You know who you are and how much I love you

me first and the gimme gimmes

Last night I had to work late and after, I was invited over to my friends’ Patty and Brandon Cottongim’s house to go swimming at night (the kids are with their dad on Thursdays)

My plan was to NOT swim, since I tend to be more of a lounge by the pool and drink alcohol kinda girl, but Patty insisted that I get in the water (or,she said, I would be thrown in the water)

So I did. And it was a really good idea. I can’t remember the last time I went swimming at night and the water was warm and there was a slide and the cicadas were buzzing and it was just really fun and exactly what I needed after the week from hell.

Plus, Brandon introduced me to this record while we were swimming, which somehow I had managed never to hear before. With a punk rock cover of “Seasons in the Sun,” the evening was even better…

I have decided I am definitely going to learn to play bass. Patty and I are going to start a band. No, really! We really are.

the "hot dog informant" July 28, 2005

I do love East Tennessee’s small town newspapers and this is why: “Hot Dog Vendor Disputes Claim He Is FBI Informant”

It’s an entire, long article on how this hot dog stand guy is NOT an FBI informant, but how he’s afraid to re-open his stand because of the rumors running rampant in town that he IS an FBI informant and that the hot dog stand is just a front.

Apparently, folks in Cocke County do not thing it is a mere coincidence that their local hot dog stand closed up shop THE SAME WEEK the FBI came to town to crack down on cockfighting.

ummm….

details
Originally uploaded by kgranju.

I’ve never felt compelled to read DETAILS before, but I have to admit they’ve grabbed me with this whole “Is Your New Baby Making You Gay” riddle headline.

I’ll let you know what’s up with it after I read it.

Any ideas?

I think that if I were a guy, this photo of yummy David Beckham would be far more likely to make me gay than my new baby, but that’s just me.

Dr. Phil - Anti-breastfeeding bigot

http://www.drphil.com/plugger/respond/?plugID=9244

Strangers Complain When I Breast Feed In Public!

Do you think it’s okay to breast feed your child in public places but others complain that your behavior is inappropriate?

Have strangers told you that they are appalled by your breast feeding in restaurants, grocery stores, public restrooms, department stores, doctor’s offices, etc. but you think breast feeding is such a natural and beautiful act that you should have the right to do it anywhere and anytime you please?

OR do you know someone who breast feeds their child in public and you are offended by it? Do you need Dr. Phil’s help at confronting your friend or family member about their inappropriate habit to breast feed in public?

If you have personal experience AND very strong feelings about this issue please reply by emailing us your story. ONLY RESPOND IF YOU WOULD BE WILLING TO APPEAR ON NATIONAL TV WITH DR. PHIL.

baby ward

Thanks to everyone for the kind notes and prayers and thoughts.

Here is an article that was in my hometown newspaper today about Ward’s accident

Baby Ward still hasn’t woken up. He’s still on a ventilator and he is still having seizures. Seeing him like this — and seeing his parents suffer like this –is pretty much indescribable. No one wants to leave the hospital, ever, but we’ve been taking shifts. His parents still haven’t slept and it’s been 30 hours now since he came into the hospital.

But we are all very hopeful and will remain so. We’ve talked to some people who have had children experience near drownings with good recoveries and Vanderbilt is absolutely the best place he can be.

For those of you who know James and Julie, and who e-mailed and wanted to see some photos of Ward, these are a few of my favorites. As you can see, he’s a beautiful baby. His personality is terrific too. He’s very funny and full of himself.

I took this one of Ward with his Daddy

And here are some other favorites of mine of Ward with his cousins and the rest of our family.

It’s funny how the things that seemed to be really… July 27, 2005

It’s funny how the things that seemed to be really irritating earlier this week now seem really, incredibly inconsequential…

It’s 4:00 am and I’m in the Pediatric Intensive Care waiting room at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville. My sister and I made a mad dash from Knoxville tonight after finding out that our beloved two year old cousin, slipped away from his mother today and jumped into the lake near his grandparents’ house.

He was in the water for several minutes before they found him, and had no pulse for at least twenty minutes. He was lifeflighted from Coffee County to Vandy and is in extremely critical condition. He’s on a ventilator and they fear serious brain injury.

He’s the sunniest, happiest baby you can imagine and we all love him so much.

Vanderbilt Hospital is very family oriented, so even though I am not his mother, I was able to sit with him some tonight in the ICU, and seeing his blond curls spread out on the hospital bed, still damp from the lake, was just almost more than I could bear. He hasn’t woken up at all since they found him, and his mother and father, two of the people dearest to me in the world, look like their souls have just been sucked out of them.

Please keep him in your thoughts. And hug your children.

blue plate special July 26, 2005

My friend Jack Neely and I are going to wander down to Gay Street at noon today (Tuesday) and watch Todd Steed and Mic Harrison play a live show on WDVX as part of their Blue Plate Special series.

You can eat lunch there - I had a good salad last time I went.

If you can’t come watch the lunchtime show, you can listen to it live on the radio or on the WDVX website (click the link above).

UPDATE: The noon show was great fun. As a Jayhawks fanatic, I was happy to hear ‘Save it for a Rainy Day’

Also, Todd played his North Knoxville song. I’ve been meaning to tell him that my son Henry is much happier about living off Central Ave (he was NOT in favor of moving there from our house in Bearden) now that he has heard ‘Thank God for North Knoxville.’ He points out to his friends that no one has written a song called ‘Thank God for Lyons View’ or ‘Thank God for 37919′

contextual nonsense

I now use gmail for my email client and as you may or may not know, gmail actually searches your e-mails and then places contextual ads related to the content of the particular e-mail you have open right next to the email reader on your screen.

So like when I sent my mother an e-mail telling her I bought a Jetta, there were VW ads next to the e-mail, etc.

But one really amusing thing is that a lot of the time, the ads next to my e-mails are for DVDs of “The Complete First Season of ‘Kate and Allie’” or “Kate and Allie posters”

(Get it? Kate and Allie/Katie Allison Granju?)

I had no idea the 80s sitcom “Kate and Allie” had such an enduring fan base…

new, used car

So I took a vacation day today to deal with getting a new car. With 3 kids and no car I can borrow for more than a day or two, there just wasn’t a lot of time to put it off any longer. (although I am so grateful to my dear friend Jay who let me use his car today while he rode his bike in the 100 degree heat to teach his classes at UT ) I’ve been researching cars for weeks and today I went and test drove the ones I was interested in.

I ended up buying a 5 speed 2002 VW Jetta GLS with 32K on it. I learned to drive on a 5 speed VW Rabbit, and although I take a lot of teasing about my driving skills, for some reason I’ve always been pretty good at driving a manual as opposed to an automatic (I’m also a really good shot — with a gun. Random skills I can’t really acount for. Go figure). And I had forgotten how much fun it is to drive a zippy 5 speed German car. Lots more fun than driving the Ford Explorer I’ve been driving the past two years.

The whole experience went relatively smoothly. I was pretty comfortable being firm with the sales guys at the dealership and I insisted on the carfax thing (thanks blog readers!)

The kids seem to like it, and I’m hopeful it will do the classic VW thing and run like a top for ages…