Life and death
So, my grandma (dad's mom) passed away a couple days ago, and it looks like I'll be braving the snow this Friday when I fly out to Milwaukee to see my dad's whole side of the family. I'm not sad about it because I didn't know her that well - I've probably only seen my Wisconsin cousins/aunts/uncles/grandparents 4 times in my life and two of them were when my memory was still developing. That's not to discount her life in the least; she was a great human being, I'm sure and I always received a homemade ornament from her at Chrismastime and cards for several other occasions.
I guess I just don't understand why people get sad when OLD people die. Just this morning, my co-worker said, "my friend's grandma passed away and she was 103 - so sad." Ok, that's really old - she obviously led a full life. If you ask me, I wouldn't want to be around that long. Death is only sad for those left behind. It's not sad when your grandma has one lung and hip problems and has been in and out of the hospital. Her suffering may be sad, but ultimately I'm happy she's free from pain.
I'm not too thrilled to be going to Wisconsin though because a) I'm going for a funeral, b) I know there will be drama with my family and my brother lying to them about having a job and I am gonna be in the middle of it and c) I hate going to Wisconsin because I feel so AWKWARD around all my cousins. Maybe awkward is not the right word. But my dad has ten brothers and sisters who are all white. My dad is the only one that married outside of his race. All my aunts/uncles are married with at least 4 kids each, so you do the math. Of course, everyone knows me and my siblings because we are the BROWN wolf cubs. So, my cousins come up to me and I have NO idea what their names are and on top of that I'm trying to figure out who their parents are and it's just a huge family tree mess. I always end up saying, "Who's your dad again?" It's so terrible, but ah well guess that's how it goes. I am excited to see my little sister though.
I guess I just don't understand why people get sad when OLD people die. Just this morning, my co-worker said, "my friend's grandma passed away and she was 103 - so sad." Ok, that's really old - she obviously led a full life. If you ask me, I wouldn't want to be around that long. Death is only sad for those left behind. It's not sad when your grandma has one lung and hip problems and has been in and out of the hospital. Her suffering may be sad, but ultimately I'm happy she's free from pain.
I'm not too thrilled to be going to Wisconsin though because a) I'm going for a funeral, b) I know there will be drama with my family and my brother lying to them about having a job and I am gonna be in the middle of it and c) I hate going to Wisconsin because I feel so AWKWARD around all my cousins. Maybe awkward is not the right word. But my dad has ten brothers and sisters who are all white. My dad is the only one that married outside of his race. All my aunts/uncles are married with at least 4 kids each, so you do the math. Of course, everyone knows me and my siblings because we are the BROWN wolf cubs. So, my cousins come up to me and I have NO idea what their names are and on top of that I'm trying to figure out who their parents are and it's just a huge family tree mess. I always end up saying, "Who's your dad again?" It's so terrible, but ah well guess that's how it goes. I am excited to see my little sister though.