I am so happy to start a new year, 2006 was not my best year and I am hopeful that 2007 will be much better.
Right now, I'm extremely upset with my brother. I don't remember being this angry with him since I was in high school. I know I told some of you that I had this special surprise gift thing I was going to do and would let you all know how to join in, but that just isn't going to happen. I don't think he would have appreciated it anyway.
On to a different topic, my Great Aunt Alma (the picture is of her and her brother Glenn) passed away a couple of days ago. She was one of my mom's favourite people in the world and she will be greatly missed. My cousin Kim was married just after my mom died and as a surprise my aunt had Alma fly in for the wedding. Well, it was a bit too much of a shock for me. I burst into tears (personally, I thought Jason and I should have been told ahead of time, not that Jason needed the heads up, but I certainly did) she reminded me so much of my mom and I just didn't handle the surprise of finally seeing her after my mom's death very well.
The wedding itself was pretty hard for me because my mom would have been so happy and so involved. One of my first Christmas memories is of being in Plymouth, Massachusetts when I was probably four years old. We went on a train Christmas Eve and the lights with the snow were so beautiful. My grammy, mom and Alma were there and that was the last time they were all together (my grammy, Mom's grandmother who raised her, died the next year when my mom was 25; I lost my mom when I was 24, if only I had of known how hard that must have been for mom).
The last time I saw Alma was when I was in California on business. I flew earlier than I needed to so that I could spend the weekend in San Diego with Alma. This was another trip where my luggage went missing. It really messed up the amount of time I was able to spend with her because alot of the time was spent at the airport and fighting on the phone with United. But, we did have a wonderful visit and even went to Tijuana (my only trip to Mexico, so far) and went to the beach (where I was stung by a jellyfish). We talked alot about my mom, which was really great. I always wanted to go back to see her; but the chance was never there. Hopefully, I will get to visit with her in my dreams like I do with mom (maybe we will all go shopping together, as that is normally what mom and I do when I dream). It's times like these that I want to believe that we do go to a better place and be with our loved ones. I know that my aunt Lynda (on Dad's side) believes that my grandpa looked after my mom when she died and now maybe my mom has Alma as well to keep her company.
Right now, I'm extremely upset with my brother. I don't remember being this angry with him since I was in high school. I know I told some of you that I had this special surprise gift thing I was going to do and would let you all know how to join in, but that just isn't going to happen. I don't think he would have appreciated it anyway.
On to a different topic, my Great Aunt Alma (the picture is of her and her brother Glenn) passed away a couple of days ago. She was one of my mom's favourite people in the world and she will be greatly missed. My cousin Kim was married just after my mom died and as a surprise my aunt had Alma fly in for the wedding. Well, it was a bit too much of a shock for me. I burst into tears (personally, I thought Jason and I should have been told ahead of time, not that Jason needed the heads up, but I certainly did) she reminded me so much of my mom and I just didn't handle the surprise of finally seeing her after my mom's death very well.
The wedding itself was pretty hard for me because my mom would have been so happy and so involved. One of my first Christmas memories is of being in Plymouth, Massachusetts when I was probably four years old. We went on a train Christmas Eve and the lights with the snow were so beautiful. My grammy, mom and Alma were there and that was the last time they were all together (my grammy, Mom's grandmother who raised her, died the next year when my mom was 25; I lost my mom when I was 24, if only I had of known how hard that must have been for mom).The last time I saw Alma was when I was in California on business. I flew earlier than I needed to so that I could spend the weekend in San Diego with Alma. This was another trip where my luggage went missing. It really messed up the amount of time I was able to spend with her because alot of the time was spent at the airport and fighting on the phone with United. But, we did have a wonderful visit and even went to Tijuana (my only trip to Mexico, so far) and went to the beach (where I was stung by a jellyfish). We talked alot about my mom, which was really great. I always wanted to go back to see her; but the chance was never there. Hopefully, I will get to visit with her in my dreams like I do with mom (maybe we will all go shopping together, as that is normally what mom and I do when I dream). It's times like these that I want to believe that we do go to a better place and be with our loved ones. I know that my aunt Lynda (on Dad's side) believes that my grandpa looked after my mom when she died and now maybe my mom has Alma as well to keep her company.
This is a picture of Alma and I in Tijuana in June of 2001:
On a happier note, as with most weddings and funerals (not that there is going to be a funeral) I did get a chance to speak with family that I haven't talked to in a very long time. My cousin Nicole called to let me know. Nicole and I used to be very close, but we haven't seen each other very often in recent years (I did get to see her and my other cousins back in August, and that was awesome). Along with this news she reported that her mom (my cousin Chris) broke her wrist after falling off of a horse in Jamaica a couple of days ago and was going in for surgery. I then called my mom's sister, Deanie, to see how she was doing with everything. Found out that she had just gotten out of the hospital from a burst appendix and that my cousin Kim was out of commission due to knee surgery. I then called my mom's brother, Ian, who I haven't seen or talked to in probably ten years (my mom seemed to be 'the glue' and when she passed away it really did a number on this family). But, he sounded exactly the same and we had an awesome 1 1/2 hour conversation. He, unfortunately, is suffering from really bad arthritis in his knees (Jason and I better watch out, since we have such bad knees already). During our talk, I found out that mom's side of the family has even more Scottish ancestry than my dad's. This we never knew. We thought it was only Grandma that had that Scottish blood. But, my grampy (Stanley) had family from Scotland as well. My dad, is named Robert Bruce (after Robert the Bruce) and I found out that my great grandfather's family fought alongside Robert the Bruce. We can trace our ancestry back to James the 1st of Scotland. Unfortunately, we also have relatives that fought against Bonnie Prince Charlie. My uncle believes that the family has a curse due to switching sides.
My aunt Alma's daughter Lynn is hoping to have a service sometime this year when she can get back to New Brunswick. I will then meet her there and take my mom's ashes as well to be scattered on Grammy's grave as she would have wanted it. That way the three of them will be together again. Now, I wasn't really paying attention, but I think my Uncle Ian may have also indicated that my grandfather (Gerald) is no longer with us. As I said, our family really doesn't keep in touch. I would hate to think that no one contacted Jason or I to let us know. I know that we were not close to Gerald and didn't really know him, but he's still family. My mom, her sister, and brother were raised by their grandparents, so Gerald was really not a part of our lives. But, I do know that for years my mother kept a mug that she had bought him for Christmas in the hopes that one day he would show up and she could give it to him, but he never did. The only time I ever remember seeing Gerald was at my mother's funeral.
Well, that is all my sad news for today. It's been a pretty emotional couple of days, with much crying.
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