Saturday, September 25

Today I am grateful for:

Decent weather for the funeral. Cool, but it could have been worse.

The funeral went well, and it was nice to meet some more of my husband's family from farther away. It's strange, isn't it? I might not ever see these people again, and my husband might not either.

There was a gathering in a park after for just family, and it was a little odd because it was a public park and they had liquor. I'm pretty sure that's not legal, and it bothered me because everyone there was going to have to drive somewhere afterwards. My husband chose not to drink because we had to drive home, but at least three people tried to get him to drink, even after he said no thanks. "Just one!". Wow. You know if he had one, that wouldn't stop anyone from trying to have "just one more".

The visiting was nice. I felt a connection with a few of the younger people who I suppose would have been cousins (or the kids of cousins?) who were very involved in animal fostering and rescue work, dog grooming, etc.

My sweetie's parents did come to the house, and they were on their best behavior, and I appreciated it. They didn't overstay their visit (we were pretty tired from having to get up early for the funeral and driving over an hour each way), and did not push any buttons.

There are times when I wonder if I imagined the things in other interactions that bothered me so much, because on days like this they were fine. I know that those things were real, though, and things could have been so different all along if they had always chosen to be respectful.

My husband's Mom has changed a lot. She is in the mid stages of Alzheimer's, and is it awful to say that it has made it easier to deal with her? I think she is actually kinder now. She doesn't spend the whole visit making critical comments about family the whole time (and making you think that she's thinking critical thoughts about you too, and will be saying those things to the next person she talks to).

She's not so pushy, and isn't trying to take over everything. I don't feel like I have to do her bidding.

I talked to my husband's sister on the phone after the funeral, because she couldn't make it. She's been really stretched to her limits this year too, and we had a good talk.

We had a nap in the afternoon.

We watched "Intouchables", which is a VERY good movie. If you haven't seen this one, do so. The original one in French.