Soon after I wrote my last post, I found out that I would be working graveyard shifts on Sundays instead of the 5am-2pm shift I have on all my other days. I don’t remember being informed of this in the interview. It wasn’t on the schedule, but my coworker showed me all of the price tags I’d have to change and told me there wouldn’t be enough time unless I came in at midnight and there is no one else to do since it is my job. So I did it.
I ended up going to the funeral after all. Kurt couldn’t get the day off, so I got a ride with my dad’s cousin Darrell, our former landlord. It was a beautiful service. Lots of crying, lots of laughs, lots of family. It had been a while since I’d seen that much of my dad’s family in one place. My grandma was very loved, and very loving. I only hope to leave behind a legacy as powerful as hers.
Taken sometime around 1968, I’m guessing. Left to right: Tom (my dad), David, Grandpa Bill (who passed away before I was born), Grandma Shirley, Mary, (second row) Michael, Billy, Laura, and Phillip. My cousin Angie, who is Mary’s daughter, told me that when this picture came up in the slideshow at the service, she thought her mom looked just like me, especially with the attitude.
My dad (in blue), all his siblings, and their cousin Steve (with his arm around my dad) at the memorial service. All seven of them said a few words, and then some more people did. It was so touching to see how many people had been affected by Shirley’s loving nature.
My mom, Noah, Eli, me, my dad, and Silas. I am so glad I got to go and see my family.
I got home around 8 and should have gone to bed right away but decided to help my friend Caitlin move into her apartment, then tried to sleep when I went home around 10. Kurt got me some coffee and took me to work at midnight. I survived. It was a weird night, being all by myself in HABA and doing one thing over and over again for 8 hours. Not as awful as I thought it would be. I left at 8:30, tried to sleep, failed, read for a few hours, maybe got in 2 hours of sleep before I had to take a shower and get the house ready for my birthday party. Seven of my friends (including the people who already live with me) came over and we played a card game called Exploding Kittens and Cards Against Humanity, ate pizza and cake, and just laughed a lot. I survived that with the help of coffee, again. Went to bed later than I should have, worked at 5 am, came home and was bored and alone until Nik came home from work. We watched a movie until he decided he had to go to bed because he worked at 6 am today.
But today is my day off, so I slept til like 9. Ahhhhh, it feels so good to finally be able to just chill. I’ve been doing laundry, setting up hangouts with new friends, and just relaxing. And I’m off tomorrow too! Getting to sit down and not stress for more than 5 minutes has allowed me to finally realize something:
I’m 25.
Emerald City Explorer 