The emotional Yo-Yo that was March

Lots going on. Some of it great, some of it terrible. It’s been difficult to find time to try and put it into some sort of perspective.

Jen and I rented a new place in Methuen on March 16th. We had a whole bunch of things planned that day but managed to sneak a 10 minute visit to my Uncle Johnny’s house to share the news with him. Four days later he was gone. Last night we filled up the back seat of my car with some boxes and took them to the new digs.

I went from being thrilled about moving to crushed over losing my godfather back to thrilled about moving over the course of just a few days.

The services were nice. It was small. Unc was the last member of my father’s family. Now it’s just him and his three cousins. I was in the receiving line at the wake and that was tough for me. I had all of these people I didn’t know expressing their condolences and I had to accept it some how. Jen was with me though so it was bearable. We were expecting my father to have a tough time, but we had some good news to balance out the bad news. My brother and his wife had just lifted the gag order and we were free to openly discuss the fact that they are going to have a baby. My sister in law Mary is pregnant. Everyone already knew that my sister was expecting, but during the wake my father was able to tell everyone about Mary too. I think that brightened up an otherwise painful occasion. I’m not just going to be an uncle soon… I’m going to be an uncle twice.

I was asked if I would do the Eulogy. No way I could have made it through that. I was also asked to do a reading. No way I could have made it through that either. I was a pallbearer though. That I could handle. Just let the huge guy lift stuff. Right up my alley. My brother and sister and I also did the gifts during the mass. (you might have to be Catholic for that one) Even that was rough. I think all three of us got a little unglued after that.. The funeral was nice and all but I would have much preferred not to have had to go through it. At least I had Jen there. I would have been a basket case without her.

I had a previously scheduled vacation day the day after the funeral so I got to stay home while the rest of the family went to back to their lives. Getting out of bed was tough. Once I was out of bed getting the day started was rougher. I wanted to get a lot of packing done but instead I did some reading (almost finished with Neil Peart’s Roadshow) and some picture taking (see below). Once I did get to the packing I was definitely less than productive. I found it hard to focus on anything for the rest of that week.

The weekend was better… as weekends always are. On Saturday Jen and I picked up the keys to the duplex. A happy occasion if there ever was one. The place isn’t perfect. Each time we’ve been there we’ve found something else to be a little nervous about, but it’s better than the apartment in Salem, and it’s cheaper too. It has a basement and a huge kitchen and an enclosed back porch that will be our office, and three bedrooms on the second floor. It’s just what we need. Oh yeah and the kids loved the place when they saw it.

Sunday morning Jen and Nawal went shopping together and Larry and I hung out for a while. In the early afternoon I got into the packing in a good way. I still feel like I have a mountain of things to get to, but there are a bunch of boxes ready to go. In the evening the four of us went to Carabas and had a nice night out. It was definitely a happy change from the previous week.

Last night was another happy occasion. Jen had a few boxes packed in Salem and we took them to the duplex. It wasn’t much, but we can now officially say that the moving in process has begun.

So the emotional yo-yo is back on the up side. Let’s just hope there are no more sudden surprises to darken our moods.

And here’s a picture…