8 posts tagged “family”

So, my dad has spring break in a couple of weeks. I'm really the only one free to go traveling with him. Well, now that my cousin has moved in, she could. She's afraid to ride the bus, though, so I doubt she'd make it onto an airplane or a boat. We've been looking at the cruise options as well as possibly going to Berlin. The cruise would be pretty cool, but I'd probably rather go to Berlin, even though it will be chilly. He called tonight and set all of this off. Now, it's 1:30 in the morning and I can't write. I need to whip out a thousand words or so, but I've totally lost the thread of my story. It's gone, whoosh. Mostly when I've been writing, I visualize a scene in my head and then write it. I can't visualize anything but how frakking awesome it would be to go to Berlin.

I guess I'm going to go read for a while, then either go to sleep or come back and do some writing if my head settles down.

My cousin moved in with my parents yesterday. She was supposed to on Saturday, but we didn't hear from her and didn't know what was going on. She called yesterday, though, and said she was on her way. She didn't have that much stuff, so she was installed with no problem and her friends headed back home.

We all acted like it was the most normal thing ever. It was no big deal that she'd been evicted and was moving in with my parents. I couldn't wrap my head around it, though. It was the most surreal thing. It felt like this big, life-changing moment and we were standing around chatting as if it were an every day occurrence.

In the end, I decided that it really was the best way to act. It was difficult for her. It was difficult for us. It would have made it worse if we had made a big deal out of it. So, it was best to just act as if it was no big deal. I'm still having trouble with it myself.

Well, the big 3-0 is coming up in less than two weeks now. People say it's not really that big of a deal. My thought is that if a "regular" lifespan is somewhere around 70 years, 35 is half your life gone!

Since I've spent the last 6 years living 2000 miles away from my family, I haven't really celebrated for a while. Maybe an evening out for dinner with friends or treating myself to a night in with delivery, a movie. My mom called me today and asked what I want to do for my birthday this year. She offered some suggestions because I'm really at a loss for what to do. She asked if I wanted them to come to my city and hang out or if I wanted them to have a party at their house and invite people. My apartment's really not big enough for a party of any size, not to mention that we're kind of slobs!

I would love to have a big party. It's been a while since I've had a birthday party. I end up feeling like it's a little selfish or something. On top of that, I'm not sure how I'll be able to handle being the center of attention--I've had a little trouble with groups lately.

I'll have to do some thinking. And quick thinking because my mom(and everyone else!) needs some notice.

It was a memorial for my aunt who passed away a year ago.  My cousins came, my aunt, an uncle, family friends.  I know we had more than 20 people at the house, but I'm too lazy to count to see how many it was.  One of my cousins brought four of her friends along.  I think they thought we were crazy!  LOL.  She didn't warn them ahead of time.  They probably wouldn't have come if she had!  LOL.  Another one of my cousins brought his girlfriend.  I thought she was awesome.  They've been together for almost a year.  She fit in so well!  I was really glad to see him happy.  I think that they seem like a perfect match.  I hope it works out for them. 

My mom didn't tell my cousins that she made the photo albums, so it was a surprise to them.  I think that more than one of my cousins cried. 

It was so wonderful to be home, to be surrounded by family, by people who love me.  People who have the same sense of humor that I do, people who get me, who understand me, people who make me laugh.  It's nice to sit in the corner and let the conversation wash around you sometimes, too. 

Of course, it's also nice when everyone goes home and the house is quiet again!  My mom, my dad, and I all had to take a nap this afternoon to recover.  I usually don't take naps, but I needed it this time around.  I really am getting old...

Matt, if you're reading, this one's for you!

My aunts came from OH and TN last weekend to help clean the house.  My parents are having a Memorial party for my aunt a year after her death in a couple of weeks.  It's making me a little weepy thinking about it, actually.  My parents (God love 'em) are not the best housekeepers.  I'm one to talk.  I learned my housekeeping skills from them!  Anyway.  I went home to help clean, too.  I actually had fun doing it.  I got to throw things away!  Not my things, of course.  I'd freak out if someone tried to get me to throw stuff away.  But I LOVE to throw other people's stuff away.  Isn't that a little crazy?

Well, my aunt told me that I wasn't allowed to blog about her dying.  Apparently, my cousin read the entry I'd written about her being in ill health and told her about it.  She didn't really tell me how the conversation went.  I think it's kind of funny, actually.  At the same time, it goes to show that you never know who is reading your blog! 

My aunt is awesome, though!  She doesn't drive on the freeways, but she did so that she could come down and help!  That's courage--doing something you're totally crazy anxious about.  On top of that, she's got emphysema and helped clean dusty stuff.  I used to call her my Evil aunt because her first name started with an E.  Now, she's my Excellent, Extraordinary, Elegant, Exquisite Aunt! 

I truly have some wonderful women in my family.  I hope I live up to their example. 

At 8:30 pm tonight, my mom had finished making dinner.  She asked my brother and I to clean off the table so we could eat.  We started cleaning up, and I snatched a $5 bill my brother had sitting on his seat.  He came after me right away and started kind of yelling at me about it.  I buttoned my pockets up and kept avoiding him.  For some reason, he started making weird noises. 

It cracked me up.

Seriously.  I slid down the wall.  Then I had to lay on the floor because I was laughing so hard that I couldn't breathe.  I ended up with tears rolling down my face because I was laughing so hard.  He kept coming back and making the noises at me just to make me laugh.  I finally threw his money at him to make him stop so I could breathe again! 

I'm such a big kid.

It's our third day together as a family.  So far, so good.  Some little gripes, but everyone has been in a good mood and we let each other know when we were getting worn out or needed to take a break/get some food/take a nap.

We woke up in Cayucos this morning.  It's a beautiful little seaside village along the central coast of California.  We had a very nice room at an inn there.  I think they call it an inn so they can jack up the price!  It was pretty expensive.  Of course, it was the weekend as well. 

We didn't get on the road until later on, and got to Hearst Castle just around 11 am.  We went on our tour at 11:50.  The "ranch house" as Hearst used to call it was beautiful.  It was crazy, too.  One of the rooms was about the same size as my parents' entire house!  There are three guest houses on the property.  One of them has something like 18 rooms!  My favorites were the outdoor Neptune pool and the indoor pool(I forgot the name of it!)

After Hearst Castle, I called to check on our reservation in Big Sur.  There are wildfires all over the state, and while they said they weren't affected by the fires, the highway into the city was closed.  We were going to have to drive this way anyway.  So, we decided to cancel our Big Sur reservations and head to Salinas instead.  Tomorrow, we go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz.  I looked at a brochure, and they've got some funky gravity stuff going on. 

We did stop and see some ground squirrels that came so close that I touched them, and elephant seals.  They're ugly buggers.  I can't wait to see the otters tomorrow.  We saw a jellyfish in Morro Bay, too.  Very cool.  I've never seen a live one in the wild. 

I just got back from Kentucky/Ohio.  I'm very glad I went.  I didn't really get a chance to grieve for my aunt last fall.  I think that some of that grief was wrapped up in my grief for my uncle as well.  We sat around a lot.  My mom came up with a fun little game for us to play: "Who would you kick out of bed?"  Only famous people, of course.  LOL.  We had fun with it.  Of course, I'm the one who added in Tie 'em up! 

There was no funeral service, just a visitation.  On Wednesday night, we looked through photos to put on display boards for the visitation.  That was hard.  The visitation was hard as well.  There were about 200 people who attended.  I'm sure it only represents a portion of the people who my uncle touched in his life.  I can't say enough good things about him.  As my aunt said, he loved ferociously. 

My aunt held up really well, in my opinion.  I don't know how she did it.  Now, I'm worried about my aunt, though.  While I was staying there, she woke me up in the night.  She doesn't sleep well.  She also has this horrible cough.  I am afraid that she's the next one in the family to go. 

The whole time, we kept telling everyone to drive carefully.  We also said that no one's allowed to die any time soon.  I don't think any of us could handle it.