Sunday, November 08, 2009

Dead relative

Anyone who has known me for awhile now, knows about ‘death’ week. This is from October 25 to November 1st. My dad passed on Oct 25, my mom Oct 30 and my only sibling, an older brother on Nov 1st. So, you can see why I call it death week. And no, they weren’t all at the same time. But still…
I’ve always felt that whoever decides these things are holding Oct 28 just for …you all can bite me! Then it would make a complete and creepy week.

My brother and I weren’t close; I had only talked to him a few times in the eight years since our mother died. I loved him, but just didn’t like him much. He felt the same way about me. He always said that I thought I was better than he and his family. Which I’m not sure if I came off acting like that or not. Point being, we weren’t close.

So three years ago when the call came that he had died of a heart attack I was hurt but hurt more by the news that he had died SIX WEEKS EARLIER. Ok. Nothing like letting me know…say SIX FREAKING WEEKS AGO! I can almost say that I wouldn’t have thrown myself onto the casket and wailed…

“WHERE ARE MY F**KING PHOTO ALBUMS YOU THIEF”. Almost.

So, I have no idea where he is buried or even if he’s buried. They could have cremated him and he’s hanging out in someone’s clothes closet.

I can’t help but wonder about that.

If you have a dead relative hanging around in a plastic bag in your closet or cedar chest. Do you pull them out at Holidays? Do you set a place? Do you put them at the head of the table as an honored guest and make a toast? Do you pass them around from house to house for different holidays? What is the etiquette for dead relatives in bags?

Knowing my brother, he was always stoned. I mean really stoned. So, perhaps they didn’t bury him after all. Maybe they smoked him. And I bet he was really good.

Don’t judge me.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

When Scott's Dad died, he was cremated and urned, but not buried right away. He hung out on the nightstand in the spare room of his house, where Tish and Steve were living. The following Father's Day, we brought him to a get together at his daughter's house. He sat on the table by the pool and we put a shot glass and cigar in front of the urn...toasted him all day and finally all smoked the cigar. He was buried shortly after that.

Anonymous said...

It was very interesting for me to read the article. Thanks for it. I like such topics and everything that is connected to them. I would like to read a bit more soon.

Jodie said...

Another funny post! I'm sure you did not come off as acting like you thought you were better than him. He just knew you were and he was jealous, lol. I know what you mean though. My older brother and I felt the same way about each other. My younger brother and I are fine as long as we don't talk about politics, or our very different chilhoods, or religion, or money, or childcare, or...yeah, so we pretty much get past hi and how are you and then we go silent. But I love him.

Chris, you guys are too funny!