there and back again

Barely 12 hours after returning from Atlanta for my business trip, I get the call from my dad.
"Are you sitting down?" he asks. But really, he doesn't need to say the words. I can tell by his tone what the news is going to be.
"Your grandmother passed away this morning," he says, and it strikes me as odd that he phrases that way. Because no one, I mean no one, calls her anything but Granny.
In fact, I'd venture to say that most of my close friends have gotten to know Granny Butler these past few years. Maybe they never met the woman, but they certainly felt like they knew her because of the stories I've told. There were times when she felt like an off-screen character on the sitcom that is my life, like Vera on "Cheers." Just the day before she died, Sean sent me a text asking how she was. She even had a catch phrase, which Jimmy helped to popularize, but it's a little too racy for me to post here.
Anyway, today I'm loading my luggage (still not fully unpacked from my last trip) and heading back to Atlanta. I'll be there Tuesday through Thursday, just long enough for the funeral service.