Perhaps it would be an understatement to claim that October didn't start off so well.
October 1st I woke up with a nasty cold and Nyquil hangover. I always try Nyquil one time per cold season and then remember that I actually cannot take the drug without being comatose the entire following day. I pulled through Monday and managed to get up and head to bible study on Tuesday. I was highly medicated and overly snotty.
I got home around 1pm and within the next 12 hours all hell broke loose.
The first blow was a call from my mechanic with a huge estimate for a whole bunch of maintenance on the van. I was prepared for $1500-$2000. Not that I wanted to spend that much money but I was trying to be realistic. However, I was off by about $1000 and I pretty much had to cry when he told me the grand total. So the van is still in the shop getting overhauled. Not only is the van costing a small fortune but with the van gone I'm extremely limited to what I can get accomplished during my day. Our food supply is dwindling, and all projects are at a standstill since I do not have a car to get out and about. While I'm not really excited to pay for the van upon pick up, I need my vehicle!
The second call that got me all high pitched and whiney was to my transportation agent who is allegedly ensuring that my stuff that has been in storage for 3 years eventually gets to me. I've already had a delay of 3 weeks on the Army side of the transaction but this phone call revealed some problems on the shipping side of the transaction. The woman told me that my stuff was picked up on 20 Sept and should arrive sometime between 28 Sept and 10 Oct. She said that it was somewhere between VA and WA and the driver would call me when he has a correct estimate of arrival. I spent the last week assuming that my stuff was on an overland tour of the USA. Yesterday I called to find out a more specific time that I would be getting my stuff this week....at such point I was told it was in fact not even picked up yet. I won't reveal the explosion that took place after she told me what was going on. It wasn't pretty. So on August 22 I started this process and here I am on 9 October and my stuff is still in storage and there is not currently anyone assigned to come pick up my stuff. I'm on hold on the phone with the Army side of the house now, going on 45 mins. (correction 1 hour 10 mins) Not pretty.
Lastly and most importantly the news of the death of my grandfather is still heavy on my heart. I went to California to spend the weekend with my family. It was good for me to see my grandma and the rest of my family. I thought the most difficult part of this grieving process would be dealing with my own issues of not seeing my grandfather. I was wrong. It seems my grandpa's children and wife all have their own ideas of how arrangements following his death should be dealt with and all the ideas probably couldn't be more different from each other. It is so frustrating to see people's feelings getting hurt and family making statements like "I'm not coming if ........." when dealing with something that seemed so simple - saying goodbye to my grandpa.
I can't help but shake my head and think how ridiculously petty and selfish people are being. I admit, I was frustrated when I initially heard that the plans for a memorial time were not what I had expected, but it never crossed my mind to declare if it wasn't my way I wasn't going to participate. It didn't really cross my mind that non-compromise was an option.
Instead of celebrating the fact that my grandfather is no longer in a care facility suffering in pain, the family is bickering over how to say goodbye to him, where to do it, and who should or should not have done this, that, or the other. I'm so disappointed in this reaction and sad to call this my family.
It's only October 9th and it already feels like the longest, worst month ever! At this point all I can cling to is the hope that there is pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning. I hope morning comes soon.
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