My mother's brother passed away yesterday. I'll just get out the shittiest news first

He was severely declining and in his 70s. He had a menagerie of health difficulties including the auto-immune disease my mother had which I still don't know the details of lol

Only that it stops your immune system from producing it's own white blood cells

His daughter, my cousin, has the same disease. But she is far-removed from us. I haven't seen her since my mother's funeral

My uncle was a trouble maker

And he mellowed out ridiculously as he got older. From the time I was super young he had a bad leg injury that required a cane. I'm told he became a nice person after that injury. He used to be a total asshole LMAO

My mother's family was extremely poor, 6 kids, single mother as my grandfather died when my mom (the baby) was 10 years old. She told me she forgot her exact age when he died, but let's say 10

So my uncle would steal LOL

MENACE

But he told me, ever so proudly. He only got caught stealing once and it was a thesaurus he needed for school

Who arrests a kid for stealing a thesaurus?

No one

They let him go lmao

He was extremely close with my mom. He fondly called her baby sister and my mom definitely had a similar track record in her youth

IN THEORY my dad was the inspiration for her to go to university and for her to pursue a degree in law

But before that, total trouble maker lol

My uncle served in the army and because of his complexion, I shit you not

They put him in Turkey

Where the genius that he was, got himself arrested in Turkey for possessing weed. He was dishonorably discharged. Brilliant guy, lemme tell you

He never talked about being there. He just sometimes said "I've been mistaken for Turkish" and that he speaks some of the language

Which as a kid made NO sense. We aren't Turkish??

My mom's family is mostly white but also Ashkenazi Jewish. Which was never explained to us. Sam and I found out in one of those DNA tests

Sam and I are both 10% so our mom was more of that

No idea if that's part of why or what. Just an interesting notion

When my mom passed, only my uncle kept consistent contact with us

Attended birthdays, Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas dinners, stopped by for Easter if we had any food for it hahaha

My mom's other siblings? Radio silence. Only contacting when it was convenient for them and my dad, to his credit

Always welcomed them with open arms and some surprise

So my uncle was A Good for family. He really did mellow out over the years

I managed a phone call with him albeit briefly

A few weeks ago after I got back he called my dad and I snagged the phone to say hi

He just said he was in disbelief I was back "I have no idea what to say"

Pretty sure I cackled and handed the phone back

He was already in the hospital then

I think he wanted to say what he could with my dad. I think he already knew

He was a mechanic. Owned an auto-shop he was devoted to. His girlfriend, who I call aunt, inherits it all, to my knowledge. She was with him through and through to the end. I know my dad called her and I know it was therapeutic for both of them

She was extremely depressed, it was hard to watch him decline as he did. I hope she can stay involved with us even with my uncle's passing

And I hope him, you know-honestly I don't like it when people say this but I get it as to why they do-I hope him not being in pain now, I hope that's a comfort

I want to attend the funeral, if there is one. But idk if I can. Sam might not be up for it. But I think we should. He even attended my grandmother's funeral. NO RELATION just wanted to be there to support us. And she always invited him for holiday things

I gave the eulogy and he LMAO created a standing ovation for it

weh me cry .-.

IN COMPLETELY DIFFERENT but still crap news

Katie.......... broke her leg

ON HER BIRTHDAY ffs

I know I've mentioned her back trouble and nerve issues. Sitting hurts, laying down hurts. Only standing is okay and she does so at a teetered angle because he spine is now curved and her neck is pulling her head to the opposite side from nerve things. It's just that bad now

So she fell asleep. Next to her bed. Standing up. Thus, broken leg

THANK FUCK. She was staying with Alex, a nurse, and her newly wed wife Jenna. They were able to get her to the hospital and I mean. If you are going to break a leg, may as well do it with a nurse in the house

She's expected to be at a rehab center for a while. I really hope she can get mobility back. Surgery was less than a week ago (this happened on the 15th)

And it sounds like the surgery went very well so that's one good piece of news

But now, my own situation is ??? because I am staying with Sam in Albany but I'm eventually going back to VA to the farmhouse

But in-between we need to do a pit stop in FL to get my driver's license sorted

UM APPARENTLY if you have an expired license you just need to do a knowledge test and show off some paperwork, no proof you can still drive at all

And voila

License

Floridia u doin me a Concern

So uh. Yeah. That's uh ... the updates