(no subject)
So i guess most of you (who actually reads this, anyway? becky and lesley?) already know this story, but my uncle died a week ago today. he slipped on ice in his driveway while getting the paper and suffered a hematoma. it was so unexpected; this was my uncle Doug, the one who survived a massive highway pile-up in 2006 and spent a year in hospitals having his spine reconstructed and a million other things, who pulled through miraculously and spent the next three years telling everyone how much he loved us and calling us to talk (i don't know if it was the near-death experience or the resulting physical changes to his brain, but he became super affectionate and rambly after that. we would talk on the phone for hours). he always called me "punkin" and he gave me lots of practical advice about saving (accounting degree). he was my mom's only sibling and her only surviving immediate relative; her father died in '79 and her mother died in '93, i think? that must be the weirdest feeling, being the last one standing in your family unit. in the truck on the way to louisiana for the funeral my sister made david and i promise not to ever let anything happen to ourselves... Doug didn't have any children but he had a really stellar marriage with my aunt Mary. they were so affectionate and playful with each other. he also kept close friends his whole life; he wasn't one of those people who let adulthood mean the End of Friendships. his buddies (he always called them "my buddies") and he got together for golf and epic poker tournaments and i remember a constant revolving cast of them in his hospital rooms when he was recovering from the accident. they knew all about april and david and i, because doug talked about us so much, and we knew all about them, and it was comforting to see them at his funeral. i am inspired by what a good friend he was, and i wish i was more like that.
I miss him. i hadn't talked to him on the phone for over a month; jobs and moving, etc., had taken over my life and i always felt like i needed at least an hour to spare for a phone conversation with him. if i could have anything in the world, it would be one more phone call with him.
this is so, so weird. and i know it's so much harder for my mother, and i just ache for her. i know you guys have suffered losses like these recently (aunts and grandmothers, it seems) and it's comforting to me to know that my friends have gotten through this.
thanks to becky, will and jack for being with me monday night when i was kind of in shock and just needed to drink and be made to laugh
thanks to becky, jack, and jon who put up with my super emotional phone calls over the past week, mostly about petty things that touched some nerve.
thanks to lesley and jon roberts for going with me to the hospital in houston that time when we were on our way to that yeah yeah yeahs concert. seeing him then really meant a lot to me; it was when he was first really regaining consciousness. i remember him giving me directions to the concert venue; i think because he missed being capable and helpful.
thanks to everybody. i love all of you.
I miss him. i hadn't talked to him on the phone for over a month; jobs and moving, etc., had taken over my life and i always felt like i needed at least an hour to spare for a phone conversation with him. if i could have anything in the world, it would be one more phone call with him.
this is so, so weird. and i know it's so much harder for my mother, and i just ache for her. i know you guys have suffered losses like these recently (aunts and grandmothers, it seems) and it's comforting to me to know that my friends have gotten through this.
thanks to becky, will and jack for being with me monday night when i was kind of in shock and just needed to drink and be made to laugh
thanks to becky, jack, and jon who put up with my super emotional phone calls over the past week, mostly about petty things that touched some nerve.
thanks to lesley and jon roberts for going with me to the hospital in houston that time when we were on our way to that yeah yeah yeahs concert. seeing him then really meant a lot to me; it was when he was first really regaining consciousness. i remember him giving me directions to the concert venue; i think because he missed being capable and helpful.
thanks to everybody. i love all of you.