So this one time. . .

I must say that I absolutely LOVE my mom.

And all of her weird quirks.

When you move out away from Home, it's always your mom that gets stuck calling and telling you bad news. My Dad called me once with bad news when his Mom died, and he wanted to call us at 2am and my Mom said that he should wait. So he waited until 5am. When I was little we always joked because the only time my Dad's Mom seemed to call was when she had bad news or birthdays. My Mom, however, calls me almost every morning on her drive. And then acts surprised when I am getting ready for work.

Anyway, for awhile, it seemed my Mom was calling and then would say "Oh yeah, this person has cancer now or this person isn't doing well or this person is really sick." And then she would joke and say she turned into my Grandma Mona. And we would laugh.

Well my mom dropped the ball this weekend. On Friday at 7:30pm my sister calls me and is crying hysterically because her dog got his by a truck and died about an hour ago. And Gunner, was a pretty awesome dog. They got him as a puppy when my sister was pregnant with my nephew, so basically the dog and my nephew have grown up together. So it is pretty sad.

On Saturday I go to Gramps and we get to talking about how one of my cousins is the assistant coach for the school's State Bound Football team. And Gramps asked how he was related and I said "Oh his Mom and my Mom are 1st cousins. Our Grandpas are brothers." And then he goes on to say how he didn't know my Great Uncle all that well. Fast forward to later in the afternoon when Gramps and I are reading the paper. And Gramps says "Your uncle died." And I said "WHAT???"

So I call my parents right away thinking that maybe one of Mom's siblings dropped the ball in calling any of us. My Dad was too lazy to get off the chair to bring Mom the phone while she was sitting at her chair and asks why I need to talk to Mom. I tell him and he starts laughing. "Cath-you forgot to tell A that Harold died on Friday." Not nice Mom. But I did feel a little better seeing as she forgot to tell my sister as well. So on my way home from Gramps I am talking to her on the phone and she says "So are you going to represent the family??" And I said "Mom, while I would like to do that, I would have waited to see Gramps today had I known the visitation was tomorrow. That's another 3 hours drive."

I started to feel guilty. And called my uncle and he told me not to worry that our side would be represented well because my other aunts and he were all going and none of the great nieces and nephews were on our side, so I shouldn't feel obligated.

I hadn't seen my great uncle for almost two and a half years. He was in the same care center as my Grandpa and once Grandpa died, I couldn't bring myself to go there and visit anymore. And what's even sadder, is that the last time I saw him was at my Grandpa's funeral. And the last real one-on-one conversation I remember having with him was at my Grandpa's death bed. I was close to him growing up seeing as he lived next to my Grandparents. But he was 95 and he lived a great life. He had dementia so it was a blessing. I just kind of miss the last connection to my other Grandpa.

It's just weird that this month, we lost a close family friend and my great uncle and Gunner. It's also weird that all my Grandpa's brothers died around Holidays. My Grandpa's oldest brother died the week before Christmas when I was in 8th grade. My Grandpa died the day before Father's Day. And my uncle died close to Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving.

Woah. Not meaning to be a Debbie Downer!! Sorry! I'm okay really. Now if it was my Gramps or H's Grandparents I would be an absolute basket case. I am ridiculously close to her Grandparents. And sometimes MJ (H and her are 1st cousins) and I joke that they like me better than her because I see them more. Which probably isn't true. . . maybe. . .