cyclefreaks

Who knew?

My dad's side of the family is an interesting lot. Mostly entrepreneurs and salesmen of some sort or other. A cousin who is a doctor, a great Uncle who is a priest...I think they all went to college, but I'm not entirely sure. Devoted Catholics of Irish and German descent. My grandparents owned a shoe store which has been in Okmulgee for over 50 years, now that they are gone, my cousin owns and runs it. The "family business" if you will.

Every year at Christmas, they always gave us money. And by us, I mean the 8 of their kids each got $100, plus gifts, the older grandkids got $50 and the young grandkids got 25. The family is HUGE. Each kid has at least 2 kids and those kids have kids... anyway, we always wondered where they got all their money. My grandmother never worked beyond raising a huge family. She was the Queen. Always treated like royalty from everyone in the family, or at least it seemed so to us. She was beautiful right up until she died at 93. Gorgeous skin, little tiny petite lady who still dressed in suits and pearls and everything always matched. She actually went to charm school.

Easter at their house was always the best because the hidden eggs were plastic ones filled with money. Some coins, some bills, but it was always way better than some stinky hard-boiled variety.

Trouble was, of course, that being the kids of the "crazy one," we felt like outsiders at their family outings. If there was a wedding, we'd be sat at a table by ourselves rather than the big "family" table. For good reason, mind you, but still. Being around Dad on a good day isn't all that pleasant, much less on a bad day. But stuff like that doesn't bode well for self-esteem and confidence. As if having Dad for a Dad wasn't bad enough, being shunned by an entire family of "normal" people sucked just as much.

When Mimi died last year, we wondered how much money she left them all. Not being close to that side, they were always like strangers to me so there was really no way I'd ever know. I still don't really know.

We see our dad about once a year. That's generally plenty for all of us. We email to keep him informed, my brother talks to him on the phone. But it's always a chore, not a blessed event to spend time with him. He's 100 times better now than he was when he was younger, but he really just has a generally repulsive personality.

Anyway, we all went to see him this weekend, part of the Thanksgiving duties. He handed us each a cashier's check for $1,000. Apparently, when Mimi died, she left each of her 8 kids $50- 100,000K. That's a LOT of money for a woman who had been a widow for 20 years and never worked a day in her life.

One of these days, I'm going to do some digging and write a book about the family. The digging will be the fun part.