The Weekend Off That Wasn't

Another death in the family... This time, it was my Father's twin brother, almost 3 years after his non-identical twin... in many ways

I got the call from his son early last week &, along with the shock, came the immediate thought that at least the brothers were together again. The family history is littered with spats, feuds & the usual amount of he said, he said & she said (there's an older sister...), mostly tied in & up with the usual legacies, wills & disputes that all the various children have either tried to ignore, or just walked away from - refusing to take any side. But there are a couple of us who have dared to walk the minefield & not let the family splinter, fracture, implode, explode & fade. I met my best ally this past weekend - my cousin & youngest son of my late uncle. He's certainly familiar with the perils & schisms that seem to be part & parcel of this family (but are probably fairly common in all families if you look hard enough) & was determined to do the inclusive thing, despite the protests of his older brother - which has now opened up another battle in our family war...

To cut a long story short, he seems to be of the same mind as me... it's up to the next generation to ignore & erase the past - the sins of the fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts & especially the grandparents shall not be visited on the young... or not-so-young in most of our cases. My Father reconciled with his now late brother a few years before he died & I'm sure it was a relief to them, but it also made things easier in this unfortunate period of transition. there are obviously still a few factional disputes to be settled, as well as some lingering resentments from those of the elder generation who are still lingering, but I feel optimistic about this next generation... something I'd pretty much given up on as recently as 5 years ago

So my sister & I made the 1000 kilometer round-roadtrip to my uncle's home town this last weekend, to attend his wake celebration & see some family we hadn't seen in some cases for maybe 30 years &, in at least one case, never met before. There were some notable absences, but on the whole, it was a time of bridge building & repair. We got home last night tired, saddle-sore, but optimistic... with some plans & foundations to build on

And so today, there were text messages to send, contact details to be shared & the news that a friend from my Speakers Club had passed over the weekend... Give it a rest, you scythe-wielding bastard!!!