Nothing funny, just a serious note from me

Today was a pretty normal day for me. I don't work on Mondays (which is awesome!) and I slept extremely late as usual. I finally got out of bed around 3 in the afternoon (hey, I work nights! This is like a "day-timer" sleeping until 10 am). I sat around loading files from my old computer into the new one (like my entire CD collection - I love itunes). My mom called to let me know a package arrived at her house and that she was home from her weekend camping trip.

Motivation kicked in and I drove over to Mom's house. I got to see my dogs (I miss having them around all the time) and the cat that Mom rescued from the Twat (see Matt's blog about his 3rd most embarrassing moment and the title character for Matt's blog The Window Licking Cat). My mom and her boyfriend had spent the weekend camping in Wisconsin, got to see a couple of family members and visited the best meat market I've ever come across. My package was only one of the items I ordered, so I'll be visiting again soon. Mom also sent me home with about 10 pounds of fresh meat from this store (Leroy's Locker for anyone in Wisconsin). Yum!

Mom's boyfriend, Scott, showed me the array of fireworks he purchased. I'll just say, WOW! He is going to have fun finding a good place to shoot these off. I spent time chatting with Mom and holding my dogs. Well, Mom also picked up my dad some great food and on the way home I was dropping it off at his house.

When I got to my dad's, he told me some family news. My great aunt Marge passed away this weekend. I wasn't close to her, which is something I'll explain in a moment here. I think I only met her once at my great-grandmother's funeral in 1991. By mail, I did talk to her a few times and my grandfather kept in contact with her over the years. This is my paternal grandmother's sister.

I'm writing about this news because I am ashamed of the behaviors of a member of my family and I never want to become this way.

My grandmother, Gwen, is extremely stubborn. So was Marge, but not to the same extreme. My aunt, Becky, lived with Valerie (Marge's daughter) over 30 years ago. As roommates sometimes do, they had a small fight (no one remembers what it was about, it was that lame). Becky and Valerie didn't talk to each other for about 2 days. My grandmother got upset with Marge over this trivial thing and didn't talk to her for over 30 years.

At my great-grandmother's funeral, Marge walked up to my grandmother and said, "I don't want to keep this up anymore. I miss my sister. I'm sorry for anything that happened."

My grandmother turned her nose up and walked away.

Thirteen years later, Marge passed away. My grandmother's brother called and told the news to my grandmother and grandfather. It was my grandfather who passed the news onto my dad. I asked my dad tonight, "How did Grandma take it?"

His response, "Dad said she showed no emotion either way and that was it."

The thing is, if it had been my grandmother passing away first, Marge would have come to the funeral. She would have shown support to my grandfather and the kids. I didn't know her well, but what I did know was that she had a good heart and loved her family. My grandmother gave up knowing her only sister because of something stupid. It makes me really sad.

My grandmother has taught me in life to be stubborn. I know that I have a stubborn side. I've written people off before because of it. The only family member I use this on is my grandmother. And I still can't do exactly what she did. I don't have siblings, but I think that the bond should be stronger than that. I have learned a lesson from my grandmother and Marge. I hope that I never act as my grandmother did. I would be ashamed of myself.

That's all for now.

1 Comments:

At 9:46 AM, CarpeDM said...

I'm sorry about your Aunt Marge, Beth. I don't think you'll ever have to worry about being like your grandmother. You're a great person and extremely giving and caring.

Anyway, got to go back to work. I'll be thinking of you. Ciao!