Piling on

While I was in California last week, I checked in each day with the family. When I came home on Saturday, DH told me that his aunt had suffered a stroke, and he'd known about it all week, but he didn't tell me because he did want to worry me while I was at my meeting. On Monday, my mom mentioned having to go to a funeral, and seemed surprised that I didn't connect that it was for my dad's cousin, who had been fighting pancreatic cancer before I left. Apparently, a day or two before I left for my trip, everyone realized that he probably wouldn't make it through the week. I was not at work on Monday, but checked my email. There was a message from one of the directors, informing us that one of the men on the maintenance staff had passed away the night before. Through a series of miscommunications on Monday, neither the substitute classroom teacher nor the main office knew that I was coming to pick DD up early to take her to a doctor's appointment, resulting in a delay in getting her signed out, resulting in my being late for my emergency doctor's appointment to diagnose my sinus and ear infection, which resulted in our being late for DD's appointment. It also meant that she did not have her homework folder ready, and she didn't remember to bring the makeup work home with her last night, either. My mom got news this morning that her cousin, who has been fighting esophogeal cancer, passed away last night. Susan had called my grandmother a few days ago, saying she was having a good day (some days she couldn't speak) and that she wanted to say "I love you" and "good-bye." Sometimes I have to cling to the smallest positive items I can find. So far, the high point of the week has been when I asked DS1 how school was, and his response was "I didn't spit or bite anybody!"