Skip to main content

Biting the Big Apple (Part 3 of 3): Family

This is last in a series about my trip to New York, this time focusing on my family there.

As noted in one of the previous posts, I have a lot of family living in New York, notably, all of my mom's side of the family. When we were younger, our family used to visit New York a lot. These days it doesn't happen as often, not because we don't want to, moreso that as we're getting older we're getting more busy with work and what not (our side and their side). And so more recently we all visit separately when it's not too busy; my brother's been down a few, and my mom goes there at least once a year.

Regrettably, there's been a large gap of 11 years since my last visit. Many important things have happened since then; people graduating from schools, people getting married, people having 1st or even 2nd children, and so forth. I even have a few new second cousins that I couldn't tell you the names of because I don't know them myself (many apologies). It is sad to look back knowing I've missed these sorts of things; things that would seem important. I mean, if I were getting married or having a child, I would want my relatives to be around and celebrate with me. But I guess sometimes you've got to look pass things. I mean, we're all living our own lives, doing our own things; we can't be in each other's lives all the time. It still sucks, but I understand that it's a fact of life.

Seeing my grandma was the most painful reminder. I went with my aunt to visit her one morning at the nursing home, but she did not recognize who I was. It was a bit heartbreaking, but I understand that it's been many years and that at her age, she is going a bit senile. She seemed to be doing okay, at least better than I assumed she was going to be. She told me she was not happy though. She didn't have many friends (or friends at all) at this place. I guess what sucked was that she seemed like a pale comparison of this powerful/authoritative woman I remember from yesteryear. But there goes my brain again trying to bring back relics of remembrance.

I guess this post sounds a bit sadder than I intended, however that was not the purpose. If you had to ask me what the best part of my trip to New York was, hands down, it was seeing my family. In fact, when I arrived home in Toronto, I told my mom how grateful I was for the way my relatives took care of me those few days. They provided me a place to stay, they took me to many meals at restaurants, and they even offered me some money so that I would stay for a bit longer. Of course I couldn't accept, I was so tempted to, but I had to hold back... I just couldn't do it. It's interesting, this concept of love. I can be away from family for over a decade, and they would treat me as a prince because of our blood ties.

This then made me think of God. How complicated and interesting is He, that He would create something as intricate and special as love... something so strong and deep that it transcends everything, even religion itself. That's the way I see it. Regardless of spiritual background, cultural background, or anything else, love beats all. How great is that.

I left New York feeling so grateful and so blessed. Hopefully someway, somehow, they felt the same. I promised them that I would return next year, with my parents, since I stayed such a short time this year.

I know this post didn't add too much to the geek lexicon, but I had to get this out for sure. Later geeks.

Comments

Kevin said…
The family is a haven in a heartless world. ~Attributed to Christopher Lasch
Lollidubs said…
you're family will always love you and you will always have a place to sleep, food in your tummy, money in your pocket should you ever need from us Jeff! We love you THAT much!! It's an honor to have you come and visit and stay with us.

-yvette

Popular posts from this blog

REVIEW HAIKUS!!!! (#3)

It's time for another edition of Review Haikus; a feature I like to write when I'm too lazy to write out full reviews~!!! The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 Tony Scott schlockfest~! All his movies seem the same. A needless remake. Denzel's a bad-ass. Given up on Travolta. 1 of 2 ain't bad. Public Enemies Well? Disappointed. I expected more from Mann. The pacing felt off. Acting was good though. Man-crush on Depp and Bale. 5 more syllables! Saw VI Yes, another Saw. Harder to tell them apart. Blood, guts, bad story. Why more Saw movies? Each movie makes less and less. End this series now. ====== Later geeks!

Lt. Aldo Raine wants his scalps!!!!!!!!!!!!

I missed The Inglorious Basterds during its theatrical run and it's a shame too because I'm a fool for Tarantino movies. But I finally got to see it this weekend and I'm happy to say that I mostly enjoyed it. I don't think it's his best movie, but it was damned entertaining. The Inglorious Basterds takes place during World War II and tells its story by following three different groups of characters: from Lt. Aldo Raine and his squad of soldiers infamously known as the Basterds, Col. Hans Landa, a Nazi colonel better known as "The Jew Hunter", and from a young Jewish girl named Shosanna, who had her family murdered by Col. Landa. We follow the Basterds in their Nazi killing business (and business is good) as they lay out a plan to take out several high ranking officials all at once. We follow Shosanna as she operates her theater and lays down her own plans in exacting revenge on the Nazis. And of course, the "Jew Hunter" is hot on their trail

Sam Raimi's Dragging Someone To Hell!!!

It's great to see Sam Raimi back in his form with his latest entry Drag Me To Hell . Simply glorious, it is a horror geek's dream. This is the Sam we all know and love from Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness , before he got all caught up in the comic book geek universe of Spider-Man . After 10 years (from the first time I watched Evil Dead 2 ), he has remained my favourite film director... although he did try my patience with Spider-Man 3 . I know this euphoria that I'm feeling now will be short lived, as even as I type this review, Raimi is already at work on the pre-production of Spider-Man 4 (yay?). So what is there to say about Drag Me To Hell ? This is the way a summer movie should be, touching on all those senses that make movie going an actual experience. There were thrills, chills, laughs and cheers; the way things should be! Drag Me To Hell tells a story of a young loan officer named Christine, who in an effort to advance her own career, has to turn down an