So, every year for the last weekend of February we have our Everts family reunion since it is my grandma's birthday weekend. We usually go to Iowa, stay in a hotel for the weekend, hang out, and head home on Sunday. This year we moved it to Lincoln because it's easier for grandma this way. (We used to do it in Iowa cause we have relatives all over the place.) This was just this weekend and not surprisingly, half of our family wasn't there. Okay, grandma was just diagnosed with Alzheimer's and it's bad when she says, "This could be the last year." That's never a good sign, but I was kinda ticked cause I mean I get that people have lives but she could be right. As much as I don't want to agree with that statement she turned 87 and it's getting close. I spent the summer taking care of her and when I went back to school my cousin took over for me. I know what's going on in her head and I'm sad that more of us couldn't be there.
But I guess the weekend was still pretty fun. Grandma had 8 kids over a lot of amount of years so the cousins are all different ages. There are 21 of us and I am the 3rd youngest. We are all kind of in different age groups but there's a core group of 6 of us that usually come very year aged 11-25ish that hang out. We had a cousins night which we usually do all crammed into one room. It was fun stuff. We usually play alot of cards (poker with candy hearts and BS) watch lame tv, are really loud, and this year there was a lot of drinking involved since now 4 of us are over 21. We had a really nice room this year. Fridge, microwave, coffee maker, big tv, two comfy beds...
Anyway, I forgot my point...I think...I'm a little out of it we don't sleep a lot during these reunions. I think it was that people need to realize that there probably won't be very many more of these and they should make it a priority. It's not like they don't know when we're having it and can't schedule around it, every year it's the same weekend. I'm just confused. I miss the old days when everyone was there and we were all loud and got disturbance notices. We got thrown out of Valentino's for being too loud one year. And we used to have talent contests and two of my guy cousins would do a killer version of "The Perfect Cheer" from SNL. (They did it at my cousin's wedding as well in her cheerleading attire, that was a sight to see). But everyone would be there. It sucks that we're not as close as we used to be.
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Four Deaths in Six Months
It seems that my junior year in college is destined to be remembered as the year of death.
Last semester, an uncle, a close family friend, and my only surviving grandfather all passed away within the first month's worth of classes. The rest of 2008 just seemed to drag after that. I had hit burnout in all my classes before my classes had a chance to become stressful. By December, I was ready to start the new year and a new semester. I just wanted to leave all that stress behind.
As of a few hours ago, I've discovered that the stress has followed me into 2009.
The first month went well enough. I started to get a hang of my new classes, was given the opportunity to direct two plays for the one acts this semester, and things just seemed to be going smoothly. Then after returning home after a stressful drive, which I will opt to not go into, I got an e-mail from my father. My great aunt Pauline passed away. I wasn't close to her, which is unfortunate because I kind of wish I was. I'd met her a handful of times and I've never really heard a bad thing said about her. What makes her death especially stressful on me is that it is the second death in five months that hits my father's side of the family especially hard. I worry about my grandmother, who in that time has lost her husband and a sister, and my father, who has lost his father and an aunt. Out of my parents and I, I'm not sure who has suffered the most. Neither one of them shows any emotion about any death away from funerals [I never even saw my father shed a tear or blow his nose at his father's funeral, even though I know he was very close to him]. All I do is bottle the emotions up once I have a grasp on them and move on, only to emotionally implode from them when given the right trigger.
For me, this is the forth death in a six month period of someone I knew and cared about. Each one has hit me hard emotionally in one way or another. After my grandfather's death, the last of the three last year, my mother told me the tale that death happens in threes. Now I'm left wondering if there's two more to die soon and how soon they may be.
I won't be making Pauline's funeral, unfortunately. My father already told me he didn't expect me to be able to, and he's right. My classes themselves aren't what's keeping me. The auditions for the one acts are Tuesday and that's most likely when the funeral will be. The two plays I'm directing this semester are the biggest thing that is keeping me going right now, and because of that their priority with me is extremely high. I'd like to make the funeral, but I have responsibilities here that I need to attend to. Besides, my family isn't expecting me to be able to make it and so I'm not letting anyone down. I'm just tired of death, and the people who keep me going the most are my friends.
-Josh
Last semester, an uncle, a close family friend, and my only surviving grandfather all passed away within the first month's worth of classes. The rest of 2008 just seemed to drag after that. I had hit burnout in all my classes before my classes had a chance to become stressful. By December, I was ready to start the new year and a new semester. I just wanted to leave all that stress behind.
As of a few hours ago, I've discovered that the stress has followed me into 2009.
The first month went well enough. I started to get a hang of my new classes, was given the opportunity to direct two plays for the one acts this semester, and things just seemed to be going smoothly. Then after returning home after a stressful drive, which I will opt to not go into, I got an e-mail from my father. My great aunt Pauline passed away. I wasn't close to her, which is unfortunate because I kind of wish I was. I'd met her a handful of times and I've never really heard a bad thing said about her. What makes her death especially stressful on me is that it is the second death in five months that hits my father's side of the family especially hard. I worry about my grandmother, who in that time has lost her husband and a sister, and my father, who has lost his father and an aunt. Out of my parents and I, I'm not sure who has suffered the most. Neither one of them shows any emotion about any death away from funerals [I never even saw my father shed a tear or blow his nose at his father's funeral, even though I know he was very close to him]. All I do is bottle the emotions up once I have a grasp on them and move on, only to emotionally implode from them when given the right trigger.
For me, this is the forth death in a six month period of someone I knew and cared about. Each one has hit me hard emotionally in one way or another. After my grandfather's death, the last of the three last year, my mother told me the tale that death happens in threes. Now I'm left wondering if there's two more to die soon and how soon they may be.
I won't be making Pauline's funeral, unfortunately. My father already told me he didn't expect me to be able to, and he's right. My classes themselves aren't what's keeping me. The auditions for the one acts are Tuesday and that's most likely when the funeral will be. The two plays I'm directing this semester are the biggest thing that is keeping me going right now, and because of that their priority with me is extremely high. I'd like to make the funeral, but I have responsibilities here that I need to attend to. Besides, my family isn't expecting me to be able to make it and so I'm not letting anyone down. I'm just tired of death, and the people who keep me going the most are my friends.
-Josh
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