Saturday, July 21, 2007

Diamond 1 has a job!

Well, our son - recently driving solo you may recall - now also has a job! He's a swimmer so it follows naturally that he would want to work as a life guard. Indeed, he went to the requisite classes through the Red Cross, and then the necessary training requested by the pool and so now is a fully trained, responsible lifeguard.

It was not that long ago that all he cared about doing was playing video games. Now he's out there earning money - To pay his share of the auto insurance and gas, and - Oh yeah! To buy more video games!

Well, I guess things don't change that much.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Funeral or Family Reunion?

This past weekend we traveled to a family reunion on my wife's side. On the way my brother called with news that one of our aunts was dying of pneumonia and would probably not make it through the day. Indeed, she died only a few hours after that phone call.

The family reunion was a riot! (You wish you could have as much fun with your in-laws!) I was not preoccupied with the sad news of my aunt's passing, and in fact, other than making arrangements to attend visiting hours once we got back home, I thought little about it.

My mom, one of her sisters, my dad, and now four of his siblings have all passed on. Due to the number I've attended, I must say that I've come to view funerals differently now than the way I did just a decade ago. I find that while I'm saddened by the death of a loved one, I'm happy to see the many (many!) relatives that I otherwise don't have time to keep up with.

In particular, this funeral is likely to draw some of my favorite cousins. Well, first cousins once removed actually - being at the extreme young end of the spectrum of cousins, many of my cousins have children that are my age. So it is in this case. . . Anyway, they were always some of my favorite playmates at family gatherings until they moved several thousand miles away.

Since then, I may have seen them once in 25 - 30 years . . and I think that was at a funeral too.

So is it any wonder that I've started to view funerals as family reunions? (Albeit with a less than happy pretense . . . )

I'll have to remember to not seem too happy.