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a week begins
Jan. 25th, 2022 06:29 am1. I made a flying trip to the funeral of my sister-in-law's mom this weekend. I left on Friday and came back on Sunday. It was good to see my parents though I wish the circumstances had been different. It was cold as hell the whole weekend, lows of twenties with highs in the forties, so dad had a wood fire going the whole time. I love my gas fireplace, but nothing beats a wood fire. It's the sound and the flicker.
Funny story: when I was texting mom and getting all the logistics set up, mom was saying we'd go back to SIL's after the funeral to eat, and she'd bring us food because nothing the church ladies had brought them would be gluten free and appropriate for us to eat. I said I wasn't going to eat there to be safe anyway. We keep texting, and a few texts later, it finally dawns on my mom why I said that. "Oh. I wasn't thinking about COVID." Well no shit. We have now articulated the fundamental difference between us. LOL
I wore an N95 the whole time, didn't even take it off at the graveside service, and wore it the whole time at my SIL's house and didn't eat anything there. I felt safe at mom and dad's because they just had COVID (lolsob) and at least for a time are not disease vectors.
The funeral was really nice, though. I think it is the very first Protestant funeral I've been to in which there was zero proselytizing.
I just feel so sorry for my SIL and her sister. Their mom was such a dear woman, so kind and sweet. My SIL is the same way. I don't know her sister as well, but I bet she is, too. They are going to really struggle with this loss given its sudden nature and how young she was. My heart just aches for them.
2. My parents have started to receive The Epoch Times, which wikipedia tells me is a right wing newspaper (I had gathered that on my own from reading the articles) that is the propaganda arm of a Chinese religious cult. *boggles* Okay. I do not know what to do with that. *backs away*
3. My brother gave them The Mandalorian for Christmas so we watched a couple of episodes of that from the middle of season 2, and not only was the show itself delightful, but watching my parents watch it was delightful. I don't think they care a whit for the plot. Their only concern is what is baby Yoda going to eat that he shouldn't. And then they giggle and giggle.
4. While I was driving and driving and driving, I listened to an NPR interview with John Mellencamp, and he said something that really intrigues me because I think it is simultaneously utterly true and utterly false. He said that people are ultimately unknowable and that each of us is isolated in our own bodies and in our own experience. The only person you can ever really truly know is yourself, he said. And I think that's true. I think there's always an element of faith to our relationships with other people. We can never read other people's minds, for example. Even so, I do believe that connection with others is possible in a way the truth of that statement would belie. I do believe I know my husband. I don't believe the human quest to connect with others is the empty and futile gesture that Mellencamp believes. Talk amongst yourselves.
Funny story: when I was texting mom and getting all the logistics set up, mom was saying we'd go back to SIL's after the funeral to eat, and she'd bring us food because nothing the church ladies had brought them would be gluten free and appropriate for us to eat. I said I wasn't going to eat there to be safe anyway. We keep texting, and a few texts later, it finally dawns on my mom why I said that. "Oh. I wasn't thinking about COVID." Well no shit. We have now articulated the fundamental difference between us. LOL
I wore an N95 the whole time, didn't even take it off at the graveside service, and wore it the whole time at my SIL's house and didn't eat anything there. I felt safe at mom and dad's because they just had COVID (lolsob) and at least for a time are not disease vectors.
The funeral was really nice, though. I think it is the very first Protestant funeral I've been to in which there was zero proselytizing.
I just feel so sorry for my SIL and her sister. Their mom was such a dear woman, so kind and sweet. My SIL is the same way. I don't know her sister as well, but I bet she is, too. They are going to really struggle with this loss given its sudden nature and how young she was. My heart just aches for them.
2. My parents have started to receive The Epoch Times, which wikipedia tells me is a right wing newspaper (I had gathered that on my own from reading the articles) that is the propaganda arm of a Chinese religious cult. *boggles* Okay. I do not know what to do with that. *backs away*
3. My brother gave them The Mandalorian for Christmas so we watched a couple of episodes of that from the middle of season 2, and not only was the show itself delightful, but watching my parents watch it was delightful. I don't think they care a whit for the plot. Their only concern is what is baby Yoda going to eat that he shouldn't. And then they giggle and giggle.
4. While I was driving and driving and driving, I listened to an NPR interview with John Mellencamp, and he said something that really intrigues me because I think it is simultaneously utterly true and utterly false. He said that people are ultimately unknowable and that each of us is isolated in our own bodies and in our own experience. The only person you can ever really truly know is yourself, he said. And I think that's true. I think there's always an element of faith to our relationships with other people. We can never read other people's minds, for example. Even so, I do believe that connection with others is possible in a way the truth of that statement would belie. I do believe I know my husband. I don't believe the human quest to connect with others is the empty and futile gesture that Mellencamp believes. Talk amongst yourselves.
