Thursdays

My great aunt died this morning. Leukemia if I recall. I can't say we were as close as I was with other family members, but out of everyone at that level of familial distance, her and my great uncle were the closest to me. For some reason, great aunts and uncles just aren't seen very often in my life. But they were often around my grandparents' place, dropping in for a visit and some gossip. In fact, I saw them more often than some regular family in recent years. She was boisterous, outgoing, positive... and loud. My uncle is just as quick to smile, and I have to believe she was a large part of that. The saddest part about this for me is thinking about how he'll go on. His sister, my grandmother, passed away a little over a year ago, leaving him as the last of that generation in his family. Now his wife is gone. Luckily, he's close with their children, and has always been welcome by his nieces and nephews. Even so, the sense of loneliness that comes from this will be palpable. I hope that he endures.

I consider myself lucky that something like a couple shitty decisions in an $11 poker game put me in a bad mood. It means that I can't have that much to complain about otherwise.