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xiphiasWhy is it that you can go for years without particularly having much to do, and then, all of a sudden, you're overwhelmed?
Earlier this week, my father's cousin Ann died. She was 38, and his goddaughter. She left a fifteen-year old son. She'd had substance abuse problems for most of her life, and died suddenly. Didn't seem to be actually directly related to any substance abuse, except in that it had probably left her in more fragile health long-term.
The wake was Friday, the funeral this morning.
This morning, Mom and Dad's friend Mark Rosen died. It wasn't a surprise -- he'd had pancreatic cancer for years, and had been in a coma for days. Although, he'd dragged himself out of the hospital on Rosh Hashana in order to lead part of services. There comes a point where, hell, you're dying, so there's no reason NOT to leave the hospital in order to go to services -- it's not going to significantly affect your lifespan one way or the other, so long as it doesn't increase your discomfort.
And most of Mom's family was coming over to Mom and Dad's house for Sukkot, between two and three today.
And I had to be at work at four.
Lis and I showed up at my parents' house early, figuring we could hang out some beforehand, if we were going to be cutting out early. Neither Mom nor Dad was there when we got there. Dad got back around 1:30 -- he'd gone to the funeral, then gone back to be with his family after the funeral. Mom got back at around 2 -- she had been at Shabbat services, which ran long because people had to deal with Mark's death this morning.
My cousins Mike, Todd, Kate, Kim (not actually a blood relation, technically, but we didn't realize this fact until I was already engaged to Lis and Kim and I were trying to explain how we were related, and suddenly worked out that we weren't. . . he's the son of the sister of the wife of my mother's brother), Kim's fiancee Stacey, my Uncle David and Aunt Jackie, and my Papa Tuny and Nana Barbara all showed up between two and three, mostly closer to three. Lis and I wave the lulav and etrog around -- we don't have one at home, so one of the reasons we went over there was to sit in THEIR sukkah and use THEIR lulav and etrog.
My parents have a really awesome sukkah. It's maybe eight feet wide by sixteen feet long, with cloth for walls, pine schach, and decorated with chains of crabapples and lights and stuff. There are two trestle tables in it, along with trestle benches and other chairs.
We stuck around long enough to say hi to folks and give hugs, then scooted out to drop me off at work.
I was supposed to work until 10 PM, but eight people came in at 9:45, so I didn't actually get out until about 11. This partially sucks because Lis had agreed to pick me up at 10:15. . . at 10:45 she came in to see if I was still there, and okay and everything.
They hadn't yet locked up the ice cream cabinet, so I got her a bowl of vanilla ice cream. I suppose one COULD make a case that that was stealing from my employer, but we are in general given broad discretionary powers in dispensing things like ice cream, soup, popcorn, and non-alcoholic beverages, and I thought, in the circumstances that I was being kept an hour over my scheduled time and thereby inconveniencing my wife, who was only there in order to pick me up, the Harvard Club owed her a bowl of ice cream as an apology.
I feel certain that, had Monique and/or John not already gone home, either of them would have approved of this use of Harvard Club resources. Keeping spouses happy when they're giving people rides is important, and in the Club's interest.
Anyway, I got home 11:30 or so.
And I still have to do class prep for tomorrow morning. I've really got nothing more that broad outlines of what I want to do yet. . .
Oh, and I've got to head into MIT at 5 tomorrow to audition for the chorus of Iolanthe.
Right.
And I've got four shifts at work next week. And I'm not going to be able to make at least one of them . . . because I forgot that Kim and Stacey's wedding is NEXT weekend, not the weekend AFTER, as I had marked down.
Yeah.
It's two AM. I think this may be a "get four hours of sleep and THEN do a couple hours of prep" situation.
Earlier this week, my father's cousin Ann died. She was 38, and his goddaughter. She left a fifteen-year old son. She'd had substance abuse problems for most of her life, and died suddenly. Didn't seem to be actually directly related to any substance abuse, except in that it had probably left her in more fragile health long-term.
The wake was Friday, the funeral this morning.
This morning, Mom and Dad's friend Mark Rosen died. It wasn't a surprise -- he'd had pancreatic cancer for years, and had been in a coma for days. Although, he'd dragged himself out of the hospital on Rosh Hashana in order to lead part of services. There comes a point where, hell, you're dying, so there's no reason NOT to leave the hospital in order to go to services -- it's not going to significantly affect your lifespan one way or the other, so long as it doesn't increase your discomfort.
And most of Mom's family was coming over to Mom and Dad's house for Sukkot, between two and three today.
And I had to be at work at four.
Lis and I showed up at my parents' house early, figuring we could hang out some beforehand, if we were going to be cutting out early. Neither Mom nor Dad was there when we got there. Dad got back around 1:30 -- he'd gone to the funeral, then gone back to be with his family after the funeral. Mom got back at around 2 -- she had been at Shabbat services, which ran long because people had to deal with Mark's death this morning.
My cousins Mike, Todd, Kate, Kim (not actually a blood relation, technically, but we didn't realize this fact until I was already engaged to Lis and Kim and I were trying to explain how we were related, and suddenly worked out that we weren't. . . he's the son of the sister of the wife of my mother's brother), Kim's fiancee Stacey, my Uncle David and Aunt Jackie, and my Papa Tuny and Nana Barbara all showed up between two and three, mostly closer to three. Lis and I wave the lulav and etrog around -- we don't have one at home, so one of the reasons we went over there was to sit in THEIR sukkah and use THEIR lulav and etrog.
My parents have a really awesome sukkah. It's maybe eight feet wide by sixteen feet long, with cloth for walls, pine schach, and decorated with chains of crabapples and lights and stuff. There are two trestle tables in it, along with trestle benches and other chairs.
We stuck around long enough to say hi to folks and give hugs, then scooted out to drop me off at work.
I was supposed to work until 10 PM, but eight people came in at 9:45, so I didn't actually get out until about 11. This partially sucks because Lis had agreed to pick me up at 10:15. . . at 10:45 she came in to see if I was still there, and okay and everything.
They hadn't yet locked up the ice cream cabinet, so I got her a bowl of vanilla ice cream. I suppose one COULD make a case that that was stealing from my employer, but we are in general given broad discretionary powers in dispensing things like ice cream, soup, popcorn, and non-alcoholic beverages, and I thought, in the circumstances that I was being kept an hour over my scheduled time and thereby inconveniencing my wife, who was only there in order to pick me up, the Harvard Club owed her a bowl of ice cream as an apology.
I feel certain that, had Monique and/or John not already gone home, either of them would have approved of this use of Harvard Club resources. Keeping spouses happy when they're giving people rides is important, and in the Club's interest.
Anyway, I got home 11:30 or so.
And I still have to do class prep for tomorrow morning. I've really got nothing more that broad outlines of what I want to do yet. . .
Oh, and I've got to head into MIT at 5 tomorrow to audition for the chorus of Iolanthe.
Right.
And I've got four shifts at work next week. And I'm not going to be able to make at least one of them . . . because I forgot that Kim and Stacey's wedding is NEXT weekend, not the weekend AFTER, as I had marked down.
Yeah.
It's two AM. I think this may be a "get four hours of sleep and THEN do a couple hours of prep" situation.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-02 11:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-02 11:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-03 02:11 am (UTC)Our hearts are with you.
love to you,
Jillaurie
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-03 07:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-03 08:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-03 08:59 pm (UTC)Wow, busy. It sounds like you could really use a breather!
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-04 12:08 am (UTC)*Hug*
Date: 2004-10-04 09:47 am (UTC)I sympathize with your feelings of being overwhelmed. I find that I feel that way every year at this time--the too-many-holidays-in-too-short-a-period-of-time syndrome. I hope you feel better soon and I hope you will experience only good things in the future.