Family

I've never had a good relationship with my family. I haven't seen my mother or father in about 15 years now and have no desire to speak or hear from either of them. The woman who brought me into this world has made the occasional call but I can count them on less than one hand and it's generally when she needs something or wants to lay down a guilt trip. One of the things that I was really excited about when Heather and I decided to get married was that I would then have my own family. Essentially, we did before all our friends gathered and made it official but now it IS official.

One of the things that I secretly wondered a lot about was what to address Heather's mother and father as. Do I call them by their first name? Do I just say, "Hey?" Do I dare call them mom and dad? So it's been 7 months or so now since the wedding and I haven't ever talked about this dilemma even with Heather. They sent me a card for my birthday in January. Heather's mom made it out and she signed it........"Love, Mom." I looked at that word for days. It seemed very strange and I hadn't seen it on anything that was sent to me in a very long time. It made me so happy. I called her and "Dad" right away and thanked them so much for truly accepting me into their family.

We got a call yesterday, late morning, from Dad. Mom had a heart attack while he was at a knife show and he came home to find her on the floor. Paramedics were able to revive her but her heart stopped several more times on the way to the hospital. She passed away shortly after getting to the emergency room. Obviously, Heather's going through something entirely different than me but I definitely feel some anger.

Dad's still fighting against the cancer so he's gonna need his strength and this can't be helping. Hang in there buddy.

Rest in Peace.............Mom.