So, anyway, it's my birthday. And all weekend I was really dreading it. Not because of the whole "birthday" thing because, again, I'm finally cool with it. But because my husband's awesome grandmother passed away early Friday morning at the ripe wonderful age of 96. Mammo was fabulous woman and we shall dearly miss her. Well, her service is this afternoon at 2:30. It's just a "viewing" but obviously, these things are never just viewings. Friends and family will be there to remember her. I've really had a hard time this weekend keeping that one little work in focus: REMEMBER. We are not mourning her death, we are remembering her life. It just kind of sucks that it's happening on MY day, you know? But, I guess that's the selfish jerk in me. We all have that little bit in us.
Hey, at least I'm nothing like my mother-in-law who on Saturday found a new level of selfishness that we had no idea existed for her. In talking on the phone with my husband Saturday night about prepping for today's viewing she mentioned the gift we gave Mammo for her birthday / Mother's Day. It was a very cool radio that reads Secure Digital cards and USB drives and plays any music stored on said drives. Along with the radio, we included a 2GB SD card with 1.6 gigs of music from the 30's and 40's. Mammo had mentioned to my husband how much she missed that music and how sad it was that no one plays it anymore. So, for the last month of her life Mammo was able to listen to the music of her youth that she loved so much. And I digress. So, my MIL being the incredibly selfish woman she is actually had the audacity to say to my husband on Saturday night in regards to this awesome radio (keep in mind that Mammo has been dead barely a day and a half):
"So, do I get to take it home?"
Uhhhh....
Wow. Just effing WOW. Seriously? I mean, I knew this woman was beyond selfish but she has officially found a whole new level. And here I am keeping the bit about today being my birthday to myself when talking to her because this thing isn't about me. It's about Mammo and, well, I actually CARE about others feelings. I didn't feel it was appropriate to mention to her that the viewing for her dead mother is on MY birthday. See there? That's me NOT being selfish with regards to my overly selfish mother-in-law.
OK, so now on to the BEST. Present. EVER.
My brother Todd called me last night at about a quarter to 9pm saying that it was time. His GF Shannon was in labor and it was definitely time. So, I threw on some flipflops, grabbed my phone and purse and ran out the door to go pick them up. They don't have a car so my sister Tracey and I have been "on call" for the past few weeks waiting for Shannon to go into labor. She was overdue by over a week, poor thing!
When we got to the hospital last night her contractions were 2.5 minutes apart and she was dilated to 4cm, 75-80% effaced. She was ready for drugs RIGHT THEN. Poor thing doesn't handle pain well...though, IMO, I think she was doing great! They admitted her fairly quickly and got her an epidural pretty darned fast! We got there just after 9pm and she had the epi in by 10:30pm. Seriously, NOT BAD for time, don't you think?? Anyway, I stuck around till 11pm because I wanted to make sure that Shannon's little boy Lucas (6yo) was taken care of by his grandpa. Her dad lives over an hour away from the hospital so it took him a while to get there and then he didn't have a carseat for Lucas so I'm *really* glad I stuck around 'cause I lent him one of my boosters.
I got word this morning that my newest nephew Clarence was born just after 10am this morning. ON MY BIRTHDAY. This is the BEST gift I could have ever been given and it makes up for the sadness that shall be felt this afternoon. So, now, for the rest of my life I shall no longer look at my birthday as being MY day. It's Clarence's day, too. I get to share it with a special gift from God. Life is good.
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