I’ve been spending the past two (or has it been three?) weeks away from the blog actually living life rather than writing about it. Life caught up with me in a big, big way about two weeks ago when my uncle passed away. It didn’t come as a surprise — he took a pretty bad turn a few days before and had been in a nursing home for about six months. Though he was my uncle, he was more like a surrogate grandfather to me. My two true grandfathers had both passed on by the time I turned five, and I only have a few vague and fleeting memories of them. My uncle was old enough to be my dad’s father — and in a way was another father to my dad — and he played the role of grandfather well.

Grief is a funny thing when you have time to prepare for it. I struggled with his death for a little while in private, but after a day and a five and a half hour drive to the other end of the state, I had made my peace with it. He hadn’t been his joyful, vibrant self for over two years, and he was the kind of man who lived his life in a way that makes you believe in Heaven. He loved life and his family and took pride in his work and his family. It was said at both his visitation and his funeral time and time again that he never had a bad thing to say about anyone. In turn, everyone had the highest of praise for him. Celebrating his life made me want to work harder at being more like him, and I doubt I was the only one at his funeral who felt that way.

The hardest thing was to see my aunt and dad so upset. I wouldn’t call them stoic, but they do have a way of hiding their sadness in most situations, so to see them openly cry was hard. But the raw emotion of it all was cathartic at the same time. As was the two days spent with my dad’s side of the family in his teeny-tiny small town, where everyone knows your business (and when I say your business, I mean mine). My dad’s side of the family is the dictionary definition of salt of the earth, and I always feel completely at peace around them.

I mentioned the circle of life because after my family and I went our separate ways on Friday afternoon, my mom attended my cousin’s baby shower the next day. My baby cousin (who is very much an adult, but she’s still younger than me) is due to have her baby in a few days. Meanwhile, I trained for the all-around medal in the emotional olympics and attended the marriage of my good friends Modern Jay and Modern Leigh and had a mini-reunion with so many of my dear friends, who are spread out around the South and East. Currer Bell was in town with her hubby, and Noodles stayed with the Modern Love Machine and I for several days. Those several days were spent talking and just being, kind of as if we were back living in the same town, and it was a complete gift.

In one short week, I was treated to a solid review in the lessons of family, love, mortality, marriage, friendship, kindness, life and so much more and reminded just how incredibly blessed my life is.