Posts from Hodagland: Wednesday, the 3rd.

It's 8:29. Which means Grandpa's been in bed long enough to be in REM and I'm finding way to entertain myself. I really haven't done all that much today. I drove 4 hours and 6 minutes exactly, which was surprisingly enjoyable. I thought very little and jammed much. A morning and tank of gas well spent as far as I can tell. Since I've been here in the house the Kock's built, literally, I've watched TV, slept, ate frog legs, and watched more TV. Needless to say it's been quite the eventful visit.

My grandpa's a cool dude. He's sarcastic and he gets a kick out of watching you figure out his wit. His walls are covered in African souvenirs--gifts from chiefs and other knick-knacks, he tells me. It's clear he's touched a lot of people with his life.

But he's lonely. In fact I've never seen a lonelier man. He constantly of how quite the hose is, how quiet his life is.

He sits in his same chair all day, everyday, watching TV he can't hear just to have somehting to do. He laughs at himself when he tells me that he spends more time in bed than he does awake. He cares not to open his mail and says they can come and put him in jail if they get mad he's not paying bills. He can't believe his album of retirement pictures are already 15 years old, yet his age makes him constantly tired and weary.

So I'm sitting here wondering how it switches. How do you go from zealous preacher, father of five plus a congregation to a placid hermit whose best friend is his television? And once you make that switch, what keeps you going?

I wish I had more to say to him.