Celebrations

So - I am sitting here planning my sister's big 50th.  She deserves this party - she has held baby showers for my sister, and a 40th birthday party for my sister.  She provides my family with some sort of sanity in a sometimes insane world.  She is the eldest and that is very evident.  Of course cause I don't do secrets very well - we couldn't surprise her....got lots of shit for that - but hell - I hate being surprised....I hate fan fair.  Some people say they hate it but secretly like it.  NOT ME! One year Matt and Jill had a "birthday" lunch for me...I was soooo pissed.  I did say thank you but jesus it isn't what I wanted. I wanted a nice meal with a few friends...not the whole office.  They kept saying well people really like you...well fuck - I don't care....LOL anyway - I'm off track.  Bottomline - I have few true friends....I don't need groups..A lunch with a close friend beats lunch with 50 so-called friends.

So - now I sit here...thinking of the dreaded holidays.....Christmas.  I build this shit up. I love christmas as a family with Ma and Pa and my siblings....I want to relive that magic.  It was magical...Santa Clause....the whole thing... big dinners....dad at the head of the table - my parents fight but then kiss and make-up....spoiled but never overly spoiled.....That magic hasn't been there in years but each year I am torn....each year I fight with myself to relive it...and each year I stress and somewhat fail.

Dad died Christmas Eve - so now - I'm thinking I don't even want to try and relive it....but...maybe I do...but in a different way.  I think I've been thinking about it wrong.  My Dad loved the holidays. Helped do the tree (although anal as hell).  Why not do my big ass no need tree and honor dad for me.....not for my family...besides Brad (he always counts).  Do that shit for us.  do it cause I want to do it not because I think I should.  The day my father died - I cursed that tree - I wanted it down...I sat beside that tree many nights thinking that something was wrong this christmas...maybe I was supposed to be pregnant or something else....it was the something else.....

So - I initially wanted to run - run far away - but bottomline - I have NO IDEA what I want...and I shouldn't make myself decide that...I don't have to host SHIT for my family.  My Mom, my parents-in-law, and my husband are all that matter.....okay and my sister Pauline :-)  She final one - is a tricky one.

My siblings in general leach off me....it is tiresome...but I let it happen.....not once have I been invited to anything....I don't do things to be invited, but dam....really....there are 6 (or ask someone else they say 7) of us.....they say I am too "fancy" - no I am me....I like neat nice things - but I also just love family....if I host - that shit is planned and tight...it is part of who I am....but it is not a requirement of others.....I think few people truly care to understand me...those who do - love me and tolerate me....I am grateful.... :-)

Processing

Was wondering if I should blog about the last few weeks and what I experienced.  I guess it would be quite boring really and I really don't have the gift of words. I have "other" gifts; but not so much for words.  If I learned anything these last few weeks is that I sell myself short as a person.  My parents taught me how to be strong and independent.  To do it my way. My Dad always did it his way.  My "flaws" are my strengths. I know those flaws and I am slowly learning to embrace them.  Instead of writing details of my experience, I would like to catalog my raw idea. Maybe one day these ideas will be put into something that makes sense, but for now they will be raw.

1.  My Dad had a very different relationship with each and everyone of his kids.  He cherished and valued us for different reasons.  He expected different things from different children based on what qualities he saw in each of us.  Not sure all of the qualities he saw in me, but he did love me, and was proud of me and towards the end - respected me personally and professionally.

2.  My Dad matured as a get older.  Really three different generations of kids made him a different type of Dad for each generation.  I think I got Dad during his best generation :-)

3.  My Dad did not like having lots of things; my Mom did and still does.  The house was full of Mom's crap; but Mom claims Dad got what he wanted, when he wanted it.

4.  My Dad was intimidating to most men.  Well respected but intimating.  My uncle confessed that he never thought Dad liked him and was often intimated by him.  Felt less of a man when he was around my Dad.  Funny thing is my Dad LOVED my uncle and thought highly of him.

5.  My Dad was the head of the house.  He was at the head of the table and led his "troops." My Mom bravely following.  Seeing and selling his dining room chair was the hardest.  It is an end of an era.  I often wish Brad would sit at the head of the table with the command my Dad did.  I am realizing this is unfair.  Brad is a different man than my Dad.  I will no longer do this comparison for my and Brad's sake.

6.  I gave my parents a lot of different little things.  Everything meant something; but maybe it meant more to me then them.

7. I always resented the fact that I was not a boy.  I always wanted "that relationship" with my Dad.  That was flawed logic.  I had my own special relationship.

8.  I brought very little back for myself.  My Dad's old hardhat from GE, an old GE mechanical pencil and an old GE hat.  A few odds and ends that I gave Dad and some of my own art and art that was up in my parents old house.  I didn't keep a father's day card I gave him a few years ago (he had it next to his chair). I should have, but oh well.

9. My sister held and cried over everything.  She had a hard time selling or leaving anything.  Her memories didn't seem enough.  Just thought it was interesting.

10.  I can't say this enough, but I loved my Dad with all my heart. I miss him.  I think of him daily and wish he were here. I was convinced he was talking to me through the broken down wind chimes I gave him years back.  I let someone take them to provide them with a good home. I regret that somewhat.

11. I am stronger than people know.  I wear my heart on my sleeve and don't always make good decisions, but I am strong.  Always was and always will be.