So long Uncle George

When I was a kid, every Christmas we would get together at my aunt's house for food and family. Over the years my father's side of the family didn't grow apart per se, but I don't know as we were ever super close. The last time I saw the bulk of my family in one place was during a family reunion when I was in my early 20's. It was nice to see that whole side of the family together. It seems that the family will all be getting together again this week...my Uncle George passed. He was 78, and while I haven't seen him in 10 years...it still sucks.

Until today, I never knew anyone in my family to pass. My grandparents all died before I was born. My head doesn't even know how to process things at this point. Sitting here at work, everyone with their petty bs is just unreal to me.

The notice says the services are private, I have no clue what that means. I can't be in town for any funeral or service...at least not physically. The weather out here is gloomy and cold, very much like Cleveland. I'm there in spirit.

90 points

My family has always played board games together. Some games I loved playing, others not so much. I should have known something was amiss the day my brother Steve taught me to play chess. There is 6 years between us, and little did I know in my youth that the Bobby Fisher books he was reading after the chess lessons sealed my fate. It was this evil streak of his that made me hate word games. Scrabble, upwords, and the like, were evil. Steve's vocabulary was always impressive...and an 8 year old was no match for him.

Christine and the boys like board games too, and of course, Scrabble is Christine's favorite game. Last night she was playing with Max, who at 13 isn't much competition for his mom. I offered to help, only because I was quite sure I could come up with words that earned more points than "fat" and "fatty". In the course of my helping, Max disappeared. So, I continued to play for him, even though scrabble frightens me. Somehow (it had to have been an act of god) I was able to put down the word "vortexes". 90 points...yes, I kick ass. That handy little word pulled me out of the depths of the one syllable nightmares and actually gave me what I needed to beat Chrsitine. I have never played an entire game of scrabble in my life...and last night I won. I finished my evening my calling my mom and brother, who were very proud