bloodyrosemccoy | Many Partings

April Fool's Day
All Fool's Day
Boomer Bonus Day
National Fun Day
Palm Sunday (Christian)
Palm Sunday (Orthodox)
Sorry Charlie Day
Islamic Republic Day (Iran)

At the same time I left this morning to return to Eugene, Mom and 妹 left for California to visit the family. Mom’s twin brother, her oldest sister, and their mother are doing very badly, and if I were less sensitive I would start a family betting pool to see who buys it first.* I worry about how my mom will take it; it will be hard as hell, because their family, though enormous, is very close. And while she doesn’t talk much of him, she is still very much connected to her twin, and watching him slowly waste away from the direct effects of his own bad habits** is draining her.

And I don’t even wanna think about what happens when Gram dies. So I’m not going to.

But it was a bit of a sadder parting than usual at the airport, because of course I had to tell everyone to say hi to the family I can’t see and in some cases may never see again … and then I had to say goodbye to Dad, who’s going to be all alone for the week.

Somehow, that’s the saddest thing of all. He looked so forlorn.

Damn, this year’s tougher than most with the partings.

*I love all these people dearly, and it will be hard when they go, but after several years of knowing of their Imminent Deaths, it’s hard to stay properly somber and grave all the time.

**Kids: Don’t smoke or drink! Trust me, dying from a combination of the effects those two have really sucks, and not just for the person doing the dying.