I have to unstress

8-27-09


It is hell day at work. So instead of dwelling too much, I have decided to find some humor.

Ok, that being said, yes, an obituary is not the normal place we seek out a laugh or two. However, you have to laugh whenever you can, even when it is not appropriate since you never know when one of these things will be about you and you can’t laugh.

I had done a search online after I had been told about my uncle passing away. I wanted to find his obituary. It had not been up yet, so I forgot about the search until this morning when I was noting how Google remembers prior searches. So I pulled up the key words when looking for my uncle and there was the link to his obit.

Bill Lathan Horton (1955-2009)


Bill Lathan Horton of Witter Springs passed away July 18 in Sacramento, CA Bill was born in Inglewood California on March 30 1955. He was preceded in death by his father, Bill Horton Sr., and his sister Robin Harworth. He is survived by his sons Bill J. (Jodi) of Kansas, and Sean L. of Oregon. His grandchildren, Bill G. Samantha, Josh and baby due in November, mother Fern Horton from Riverside, sisters Lianna Burger (Mark) of Corona, Diana (Tom) of Redondo Beach, five nephews, and one neice. Bill enjoyed the fishing tournaments of the kids while he was active in the Elks. He loved his horses. He was a building contractor in Lake and Mendocino counties until poor health. He was so proud of his son, Bill serving in the military in Iraq who is on his 3rd tour. Bill was a strong advocate for Cancer research. He loved sports, and was a diving champion in high school


Ok, I have never written an obituary. I can’t imagine they are easy. How do you tell someone’s life in 200 words or less? You have to cut out words and certain facts just to be able to fit it in the limited space you have. I am hoping this explains why they had no problem listing the last names of my two aunts, yet not for my mother.

What really caught my eye though was the fact that “niece” is misspelled. There is no excuse on a newspaper or news site for ANY word to be misspelled. This is an age in which we have spell check. How long does it take to correct the word that comes up with a little red squiggle line under it? But what makes is particularly amusing to me is that it is the word niece. The niece they are referring to is me. Yup, I have 6 male cousins (and my brother which makes 7 grandsons, and then one fantastic granddaughter) and I get to be the only girl. My name is always misspelled or mispronounced. It is a daily occurrence what with work and other various things I have to do in life. So the one time my name isn’t actually mentioned, at least they kept with tradition and misspelled who I am, even if it wasn’t Gena.

I also found it interesting that the last sentence about him loving sports and being a diving champion in high school was included. I have not seen my uncle dive (or be in shape to do so) in 25 years? When I die, will my obituary feel the need to say I played soccer back in the day even though now it just looks like I ate a soccer ball?

I don’t mean to make light of my uncle’s death. I have fond memories of him (and some just odd) and I know that I will get a little teary when in the grand tradition of my family, spread his ashes a year later. Speaking on that point, hey, friends and family go ahead and sprinkle me right away. Is it illegal to attach ashes to a few giant balloons and let them go, letting them sprinkle wherever they may land?

We will see Grammie this Saturday. I have not seen her since her son died. I think a couple of extra long hugs are in order. Bobby decided a while back that we need to get her a present. Specifically blue flowers. I don’t make this stuff up, folks. So on Friday, probably after the shelter trip, we need to go and get some blue flowers for Grammie. I am wondering if they have some good potted ones since as much as some fun carnations or something would be good, it is more pricey than necessary, and they don’t last long enough.

I don’t know how many people know or suspect that today is layoff day. Heck, I am not even 100% sure. All I know is that the room is pretty quiet. It has been somber since last week’s meeting that the layoff would happen by this week. I am thinking that I need to close down my journal for the day so that I am not in the middle if something happens. Wish me luck.


Ok, quick update—nothing has occurred that I know of and it is 11:30 right now. Rumor is that there are so many that it will be over today AND tomorrow. See, to me, that is not ok, especially since they could have done it all by now. I realize I don’t know all the info, so for all I know people are being let go as we speak and I just have not heard yet. So we will see. Either way, at this point, I am starting to wonder if our department won’t be hit until tomorrow. One more sleepless night. Ken assured me we have booze, so I will be quite trashed these next two nights.


My day now is on the slow drag. It is a quarter to noon, which is when I get a little break of stuff (and net access for 30 minutes) and then wait until 1 for things to be stressful again. At least then I only have like an hour and a half. Hopefully the day speeds up.

I think I was supposed to go to my parent’s house tonight, but I don’t see it happening. I have other things at home I need to do. I have not talked to them about it. Maybe I should email my mom.