On the road again
So, we're here in Louisiana. In a hotel in a very small town. All of my cousins are here, and, well, it's been a weird visit. Let's simplify this with pluses and minuses.
+After we flew in yesterday, my parents took us out to dinner at this nice hole in the wall where I ordered a crawfish quartet. If you've only had crawfish one way (or haven't had it at all), you don't know what you're missing.
+My parents are in the middle of doing some remodeling and the house looks nice.
-But not as much like home as it used to.
+They always make sure we have a room to ourselves.
-They just got back from a vacation, and we had to hear the narrative while looking at all of their pictures (I believe there were 380. That is not an exaggeration.)
+After arriving at the hotel, I got to see all of my aunts (my mother has 4 sisters) and my uncle, and all of my various cousins (each of my mom's siblings has at least 2 kids, most have 3 or 4). There's something nice about having a big family sometimes.
+Watching a photo slideshow of childhood pictures with my mom and her sisters was lovely. There was a lot of laughter and joking and good-natured teasing.
-It's sad that we're all here because my grandfather died.
+While it's a sad occasion, helping my mom shop for a dress for her father's funeral and helping her write something to be read during the service are exactly the kind of things I wanted to be here to help her with.
Now it's almost midnight and I need to get to sleep. We're supposed to be at the funeral home at 9:30 tomorrow morning, the service is at 11:00, and then we have lunch and a reception at 12:00 before driving 45 minutes to the burial site, and then heading about 3 hours back home. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.
+After we flew in yesterday, my parents took us out to dinner at this nice hole in the wall where I ordered a crawfish quartet. If you've only had crawfish one way (or haven't had it at all), you don't know what you're missing.
+My parents are in the middle of doing some remodeling and the house looks nice.
-But not as much like home as it used to.
+They always make sure we have a room to ourselves.
-They just got back from a vacation, and we had to hear the narrative while looking at all of their pictures (I believe there were 380. That is not an exaggeration.)
+After arriving at the hotel, I got to see all of my aunts (my mother has 4 sisters) and my uncle, and all of my various cousins (each of my mom's siblings has at least 2 kids, most have 3 or 4). There's something nice about having a big family sometimes.
+Watching a photo slideshow of childhood pictures with my mom and her sisters was lovely. There was a lot of laughter and joking and good-natured teasing.
-It's sad that we're all here because my grandfather died.
+While it's a sad occasion, helping my mom shop for a dress for her father's funeral and helping her write something to be read during the service are exactly the kind of things I wanted to be here to help her with.
Now it's almost midnight and I need to get to sleep. We're supposed to be at the funeral home at 9:30 tomorrow morning, the service is at 11:00, and then we have lunch and a reception at 12:00 before driving 45 minutes to the burial site, and then heading about 3 hours back home. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.