The Old, Boring Mailbox of one W. Nick Wiget

The New and Improved Mailbox of one W. Nick Wiget.

Luke Tong with his little girl, Lilly Ann.

Mike Matthews, Jeff Nelson, and me...with Darren's picture in Ap Hall.

The alumni who came back for the Aptonalton 85th Anniversary

Finality

Salutations gentle readers.

I wrapped up two classes Friday, turning in projects, portfolios and the like. Then I made my way back to the hometown for my old fraternity's 85th Anniversary. It was lovely. There was a huge number of alumni present, and the actives dedicated a small shrine to Darren. We also incucted Darren's parents as honorary members. For those of you who don't know Darren, he was one of my three pledge brothers, and he died in a tornado in the fall of 2002.

After the fraternity activities I visited with my friend Luke and his wife. When I left, I somehow ran into my mother who was running errands with her cousin, Ann. At this point it was slightly past 12:00 am. Mom took me to my car, and I followed them to the nursing home where my grandmother has been since I was a senior in high school. She has had Alzheimer's for a decade.

Last Tuesday Amber called me and said that Grandma wouldn't last more than a few hours. She did; she was still with us when I drove over to the nursing home. When I walked into her room around 12:30, my father, aunt, and cousin were already there. We weren't there for long, though. She died at 12:48. It's the first time I've ever been with someone who died.

Today is the viewing and visitation in Tiffin; tomorrow is the funeral. Wednesday is my class's IPC 102 exam; Thursday is my sociology of law exam. And so begins my final's week of this year of graduate school.