Another update post

Sometimes it seems as if I’m in the middle of a soap opera.  Recently, I’ve felt things developing into one of those times.  I’m sure that if I were a gifted writer, I could spin some of this into some entertaining Sedaris-style work.  Unfortunately, I have just enough skill to break it down into manageable chunks.

Me:
I have a phone meeting with my advisor to register for classes this Friday. I still need to sit down and come up with a few ideas for my direction. (Two years feels like such a short amount of time to jam the perfect mix of courses into.) As far as the apartment goes, I believe it’s been rented, because Ed and I have heard nothing from the management.  Now we can really start packing, etc.  This weekend was fairly uneventful because I didn’t know where to start and had too much on my mind to get mentally organized.  I didn’t want to end the weekend feeling like I didn’t accomplish anything sizable, so Ed and I stripped the dining room table (after two years of meaning to).  Under the layer of brown paint, pink paint, and craft-table splatters of paint, glue, and newspaper bits, we found the honey-colored veneer.   While this mid-century beauty (complete with tapering legs that end in brass caps) would look great restored to its original vintage charm, it wouldn’t match anything we have.  We stripped all we could and, to our surprise, found a fairly decent cherry veneer.  Maybe we’ll get a new coating on it in another two years.  We’ll see.

Aunt Sue:
My aunt has finished her autobiography.  She wants Ed and I to handle the cover and publishing.  At first, I was afraid of the project and wanted to back out.  Now that we’ll be handling the publishing/typesetting, I’m actually a little more excited.  If I distance myself from the situation, I get back to my feelings that history should be written down for the family.  It may not all be true.  It doesn’t matter.  What is?  If I want anything to come of this (apart from adding to my portfolio), it’s that if people in the family don’t agree with the book, they need to write their version.  This is how things survive.  My vision is to make a book look as professional as possible and edit for errors, not style.  Her voice needs to stay. It’s important to the interpretation. There are some great no-cost vanity publishers out there now who will print one-offs and charge the purchaser any price you set.

James:
With all of the changes James has been experiencing lately, he’s decided to take the plunge and move down here.  He is looking at available jobs in the area.  His plan is to come down in August/September and stay with us briefly.

Sister:
We may be adding to our family a little more than expected.  A while back, we’d extended an offer to Ed’s sister to bring the girls here in the summer for a vacation.  She called him back recently asking if his offer was still open.  She lives in a small area where everyone knows everyone or is a cousin of someone.  She has had an on-off relationship with the father of her oldest daughter.  By the accounts of Ed and his dad, Troy is no good, possessive, a bully, dishonest, etc.  A few years’ worth of “bad luck” has lead to Ed’s sister having paranoia, panic attacks, and general misfortune.  These things include a break-in at her apartment at gunpoint by people she knew, a break-in at her mom’s, anonymous calls to the DCFS, anonymous calls to her work saying she’s giving out confidential patient info.  She’s been generally harassed by old friends.  Her ex has harassed guys she’d started to date or guys suspected of dating her, etc.  She’s been getting the run-around about her welfare check and had issues with her landlord and roommate.  Now, she’s scared and trying to get out of there.  The good news that has come of this is that she and her dad are repairing their relationship and meeting for lunch once a week or so.  She’s been trying to clean up her life for the last five years, and at each step, it seems that she can’t get away from the old crowd, the old connections, etc.  She was originally panicked enough to come here as soon as she had her economic stimulus check.  I believe she’s settled down a bit and plans to get her affairs in order, take care of any custody issues, and save move money.  We don’t know what her time line is.  As far as I understand things, she is very serious about coming here.  This would be a temporary situation as well.  As you know, we have 5 bedrooms.  Own new apartment will work well as a half-way home of sorts.  Unfortunately, we don’t know if we can clear this with the new landlord.  I’m going to wait a little longer before asking.  Ema has offered temporary space for James, if it comes to that.  I know two things about the new landlord:  she didn’t want people looking to fill the bedrooms with all of their kids, and she will know if we have people living with us.  So, we’ll see.  Ed and I are both worried about her, but happy for her to be getting away from there.  We’re excited about the girls and getting them away from such a dead-end area as well.  Ed said that Gloucester is a town where no one is upwardly mobile.  Those who are leave town.

Cousin:
My step-cousin went missing in early April.  He showed up at home early from work.  When asked why, he seemed confused and didn’t really know.  All he knew is that he had the worst headache ever.  Things progressed as usual (for the most part) until the middle of the night, where he left home and drove 10 miles to the railroad trestles over the Chippewa River where he’d spent a lot of time as a kid.  The next day, the family was looking for him, when his brother suggested checking the tracks.  They found his car, hat, and coat, with no sign of him.  The river was dragged a couple times.  Search parties looked for him on foot and by air.  No new news had developed until this weekend, where a body was reported by fishermen three miles south.  The body is being sent to St. Paul (130 miles away) for an autopsy and identification.  The funeral is expected to be later this week.