(no subject)
Thanksgiving was a good time today. I love spending time with my family. It helps that everyone is also a great cook, so the food is always amazing.
I decided to leave after my grandparents did around 9, but all I'm doing is reading at home. I kind of wish I would have stayed.
As I was leaving my dad's this morning to go to my mom's for dinner there, he gave me a sealed envelope from an attorney but didn't say anything except, "I've been meaning to give this to you." Kind of unnerved, I jokingly said to his girlfriend in the room, "Great, my dad is suing me," getting little reaction as I clumsily opened the letter. Upon opening it, the first thing I noticed was a check for $500. Not sure what was going on, I read further and found out that my great-aunt, who died in April of this year, and had willed me some money.
I had only met her maybe a dozen or so times in my life even though she has lived in Ankeny, a drive of only a few minutes, her whole life. For my high school graduation, she and her sister (there were three sisters: the two of them and my grandma) sent me a Congratulations card with $10 from the both of them. For most people, a gesture like that is usually laughable, as it fits that stereotype of the grandparent who sends a birthday card with $5 in it (because $5 was a lot in his/her day), but I remember being rather affected by it since I never saw them and didn't even think they knew I had graduated.
She was old when I was little, and she and the other sister were the strict religious types who had never married or had kids of their own, so it was always kind of awkward to be around them. Even as I got older, I don't know that we knew what to say to each other. The last time I saw her was randomly at a Kohl's in Ankeny probably 3 or 4 years ago. I said hello and we went through the usual awkward, surface-level exchange that anyone goes through with a relative they barely know, but that fleeting exchange was oddly enough the closest I've ever felt to her. Now she's gone and I have more of her money than anyone who equates to what is basically a stranger deserves.
Another reason I was surprised was because I didn't even know she had passed. I felt what can best be described as guilt suddenly wash over me as the reality sank in. I stared at the letter and then looked up to my dad, and for a minute neither of us said anything, but there was this unspoken understanding that there isn't anything that be said to anyone but the deceased in this instance.
I decided to leave after my grandparents did around 9, but all I'm doing is reading at home. I kind of wish I would have stayed.
As I was leaving my dad's this morning to go to my mom's for dinner there, he gave me a sealed envelope from an attorney but didn't say anything except, "I've been meaning to give this to you." Kind of unnerved, I jokingly said to his girlfriend in the room, "Great, my dad is suing me," getting little reaction as I clumsily opened the letter. Upon opening it, the first thing I noticed was a check for $500. Not sure what was going on, I read further and found out that my great-aunt, who died in April of this year, and had willed me some money.
I had only met her maybe a dozen or so times in my life even though she has lived in Ankeny, a drive of only a few minutes, her whole life. For my high school graduation, she and her sister (there were three sisters: the two of them and my grandma) sent me a Congratulations card with $10 from the both of them. For most people, a gesture like that is usually laughable, as it fits that stereotype of the grandparent who sends a birthday card with $5 in it (because $5 was a lot in his/her day), but I remember being rather affected by it since I never saw them and didn't even think they knew I had graduated.
She was old when I was little, and she and the other sister were the strict religious types who had never married or had kids of their own, so it was always kind of awkward to be around them. Even as I got older, I don't know that we knew what to say to each other. The last time I saw her was randomly at a Kohl's in Ankeny probably 3 or 4 years ago. I said hello and we went through the usual awkward, surface-level exchange that anyone goes through with a relative they barely know, but that fleeting exchange was oddly enough the closest I've ever felt to her. Now she's gone and I have more of her money than anyone who equates to what is basically a stranger deserves.
Another reason I was surprised was because I didn't even know she had passed. I felt what can best be described as guilt suddenly wash over me as the reality sank in. I stared at the letter and then looked up to my dad, and for a minute neither of us said anything, but there was this unspoken understanding that there isn't anything that be said to anyone but the deceased in this instance.