boy, it's been a long day.

huggy is still here, but that's been ok.

this morning began w/ a growth on my dog's butt. waiting to see the vet, an older dog is brought in that needs to be put down. doggie zippy and i get into our own private room right next door to the real drama and I burst open the waterworks. it all hits too close to home. of course, i feel rather pathetic when it turns out my doggie's own drama is nothing more than a really ripe zit.

then we came home to huggy, stable but crazy, crazy but stable...

how ironic is it when your mentally ill brother tells you he's going through his middle-aged crazy?

I could form a list of inappropriate conversations in zippy's world right now but I won't.

this afternoon I found out a old, dear friend has passed away. i will be driving to Orlando on Sunday night for the funeral on Monday afternoon. hopefully, return by Tuesday in time for my 2pm class.

but then I had to tell huggy, who also knew the deceased. it was either that or wait for him to get back on his own to tell him and what kind of person would do that????

my mother.

when my aunt erva died, my mother chose not to tell my brother in the Navy as he was at sea and she wanted to wait to tell him in person. four months later. aunt erva was my brother's favorite aunt. they were close. it did not go over well when he finally heard the news.

oh boy.

I do not like being in Florida. but I WILL BE IN Florida for this friend's funeral. her daughter precided over my mother's second wedding ceremony. she and her husband helped us celebrate my mother's life when cancer took it from us. her husband remembered that celebration fondly this evening on the phone.

and then my sister-in-law rang to inquire about my father's family history as she'd received a slew of phone calls inquiring about her last name as it isn't a "common' last name and the callers want to know if we're all related.

this is my father's family crawling out of the wood work.

my sister-in-law wasn't sure why her husband and his siblings are so adamant about not opening those doors, but when your story begins at your father's funeral w/ your uncle telling your mother to get out of her house so that he and his family could move into it because "that was my brother's property" and it only goes downhill from there... what more is there to say?

and huggy did not handle that phone call well, either, although he never spoke to our sister-in-law, only overheard my side of the conversation.

"BECAUSE THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS WON"T EVER TAKE ANOTHER GOD DAMNED THING FROM THIS FAMILY AGAIN!!!!"

thankfully, mr. zippy came home just in time to break huggy's escalating ire ... and to pull the chicken out of the oven that I had forgotten once engrossed in conversation.

tomorrow, the plan is to go kite flying before getting huggy on the train back home.

fingers crossed.