Family perspective and changing roles
Good morning! I assume that, if you’re here, you taken my advice, and, stopped reading blogs long enough to get your estate documents together for your family in the event of your demise.
Good. You may stay here, now.
Anyway, my dad and I are back home after a whirlwind trip to Michigan this weekend due to my uncle’s illness and death. Everything went well for the most part, and, I daresay that, despite the reason for the trip, it was kind of fun for my dad to see his nieces, and, for them to look at pictures and share memories.
It was also interesting for me to spend that kind of time with my father, I found out a lot of things about his family that I never really knew. He is the youngest of 3 kids, and, his brothers were a great deal older than he, so, not only did he really not know them until adulthood, but, also, my first cousins are also many years older than I am, and, I have never met them until this weekend.
It was weird for me to listen to my cousins and my dad talk about things that involved my uncle, my dad and my grandfather, because they have such a different perspective on things. They knew my dad as a young man, and, to them, his dad, was a doting and active grandfather, while, to me, our grandfather was a frail, elderly man.
However, one of the stranger things for me is that I was “in charge” of our travel.
While I’m an adult, and, perfectly capable of doing these things, I guess somewhere in my brain I am used to my father taking care of such things. It’s not that he can’t do it, and, I know it’s because I travel more than he does, and, it was just easier for me to make the plans, and, execute them, it was just strange for me to be in the role.
So, while it was sad, things are OK, there’s still some work left to do, but, hopefully, we are done with the death and dying thing for a while.
Tags: death, my-uncle, sandwich-generation, TravelRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Bereavement
2 opinions for Family perspective and changing roles
JayMonster
Mar 13, 2007 at 11:12 am
“So, while it was sad, things are OK, there’s still some work left to do, but, hopefully, we are done with the death and dying thing for a while.”
Shhh… go knock on wood already will ya’? I know, at least in my family, it seems that death falls in bunches.
I had at one point known all the people at the funeral home all on a first name basis, and it was starting to feel entirely too comfortable and familiar to be there.
I hope for your sake, you “bunch” of “now what?” is done for now.
Nana
Mar 14, 2007 at 6:44 am
If you haven’t read what Mel Brooks has to say about “taking care of” his father after his mother pass away on the MSN web site this morning, I think you’ll find it interesting (msn.com).
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