No weddings and a funeral

U.'s father passed away rather unexpectedly. He had been in the hospital for a brain tumor and had surgery - but was recuperating and walking around. The day before he was to be released from the hospital he had a lung embolism. Just like that - the hospital staff found him not breathing and after an hour and a half of trying to resuscitate him, they let him go. The irony is that the day before he had a really great day.

When it rains it pours...
After finding out about his father's death, U. was unable to reach his mother to tell her the news - only to find she too was in the hospital. This time in the ICU - her liver shut down due to cancer that up until this point had been responding well to the surgery/chemo but came back in full force. So she had to have another surgery. The irony here is that her boyfriend who is recovering from a heart attack is taking care of her - when he should be taking care of himself. Getting old just plain sucks doesn't it?

We were planning on going to Germany this October (our flight has already been booked), but due to the family emergency, U. is in Germany now to attend his father's funeral, see all his long lost relatives, and to give comfort to his mother and see how long she has to live. Unlike four weddings and a funeral - this ain't no comedy and there's no frolicking to be had. I hope that U. gets reacquainted with some cousins his age and they go out drinking one night to at least have some lightheartedness - rather than just grief and family crap.

He'll be gone a week, and it's just bad timing all around. As if there could ever be a good time for death and terminal cancer. Oh me oh my. Astrid's 1st school performance is on Thursday and it kills U. that he won't be able to attend. So I'll be there with our video camera filming it all - so we can watch it together when he gets back this weekend.

Last I heard from U. he was in Amsterdam - on a sad note there was no Eurotrash MTV to watch in his hotel room - even sadder the conversion rate - 300 Dollars equals 165 Euros - but he did get to walk around the city for 4 hours and ate some yummy fries with mayo (that he loves but doesn't get to eat in the US) and was getting ready to drive to his home town in Germany.

A great big hug and kiss to U. Have a safe journey and do not let the family drive you batty! You're always in our thoughts...