fauxklore

For those of you who haven't heard, my mother died Saturday.

I was on the West Coast, so scrambled to get home, drive to New York, make the funeral arrangements, and make 47.3 gazillion telephone calls, many of which were frustrating and/or impossible since her address book was badly out of date and half the numbers weren't good. And one person I called had no idea who she was.

By the way, funerals are expensive. I am not sure what my brother could have done had I not been doing everything because his net worth wouldn't even cover the rabbi's honorarium. (Fortunately, I had a treasury security come due not long ago, so have what is really way too much in my checking account.)

We got through that okay, but I've been mired in some of the usual family drama with my brother and with my uncle trying (not too successfully) to keep things calmer.

To add to my emotional trauma, today is also my father's yahrzeit (i.e. the anniversary of his death). Given that my maternal grandmother's yahrzeit was a couple of weeks ago and my maternal grandfather's is a couple of weeks away and, if I recall correctly, my paternal grandfather's was also around now, this is definitely not a good time of year for my family.

I am coping mostly because I am very much my father's daughter, with the organized mind, and someone has to be, but I am falling apart whenever I am alone. This is going to be a hard year.