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Again I have to apologize for not blogging as much as I have intended.  Life has again brought upon me an obstacle that has prevented me from focusing on writing.  My wife’s beloved grandmother passed away this week. It had been expected for some time but still has put a crimp in the normal routine of daily life.  This isn’t the first loss of life for my wife’s family, but it still boggles my mind how their family copes with death.  I understand everyone grieves in their own way, but their family does so in such a compartmentalized way. My wife is suffering from the loss of her grandmother.  My mother-in-law is suffering from the loss of her mother.  When my grandmother passed, we didn’t individually mourn the loss of our own relationships with her, we, as a group, mourned the loss of Nannie Elizabeth Elvove.  I’m not saying either way is better, I’m just noting there is a huge difference in the process between the two.  Another huge difference between our families is the religious aspect of death.  The Catholic traditions my wife’s family upholds, are very somber, almost depressing.  There is finalization that is being expressed that is unfamiliar to me.  I remember when my grandmother passed, we all took our time to be sad, but it was brief and personal. After the initial emotional release, we celebrated the life that was, we didn’t grieve for what wasn’t there anymore.  While the physical presence of my grandmother passed, we (my family) never (at least from what I could tell) felt there was a void.  My grandmother has always been with us, and is still with us.  It is who we are, it is what she taught us, it is in the knick-knacks and trinkets we have collected over the years through, by, and for her.  She is still in my mom’s living room in the chairs that came out of her house.  She is still next to me.  I think the only way we every truly lose someone is if we forget them.  We have the power to make others eternal.
A second thing that came to me over the weekend appeared out of nowhere.  We were sitting around and my mother in law made a statement in regards to how men tend to be better with history and statistics than women.  When posed the question why, I simply stated sports.  Sports are ingrained in boys (or at least used to be) and sports are intrinsically history and statistics.  When you get involved in sports (not even playing, but from a fan standpoint) you compare the past to the present (history) and you use the players statistics to do so.  It doesn’t matter which sport you are involved in, all are basically a history and statistic lesson, which is why I agree than generally, men are better at history and math than women are.
Enough drivel for one day, back to the grind, back to reality. Enjoy.