No more Aramis hugs.

I saw this huge display of Aramis at Heathrow, about 3 hours after I posted. Weird.

I’m all packed up and ready to head back to Missouri when the cab picks me up for Heathrow in a few hours. It’s ten till 3 (in the morning) here and my flight leaves at 8 a.m.

This is a hard entry to write because it’s not about my latest adventures in London and beyond. This time I’m going home to say goodbye to my grandpa…the one I have my interesting initials to thank for (he is EAR, Edmund Adam Rau and I am EAR for Emily Ann Rau). Anyway, he was driving around Washington on Wednesday—checking out the latest construction developments and picking up his freshly ironed shirts like usual—when he had a big heart attack. The cardiologist was able to stabilize him, but the blockage really took its toll. He died yesterday evening surrounded by the people who love him the most, minus me. So I’m going home until Wednesday to be with my family and it’s a classic bittersweet situation. I can’t wait to hug everyone, but I so wish that Grandpa would be there to hug too. He had the longest lasting hugs on planet…his signature Aramis cologne lingered for hours. I can practically smell it just thinking about him. Some days I met him at Rothchild’s for breakfast at 7:30 in the morning and I would still smell like him when it was time for dinner. I’ll miss that.

Off to bed/nap before the taxi comes. It’s too early for the Tube so it will be nice to ride in a car for the first time in over a month! I can’t believe that a week ago I was in Venice. And this time next week I’ll be in Barcelona. Grandpa would have loved that.

Love always,
ear

Grandpa watching another project.