The Eagle Has Landed (Part II)

I Plead, ‘No Contest’
Okay, before you start going, “Hey, nice to see ya again, AJ, what’s it been, eight and-a-half weeks? Back to your old habits, aren’t ya — starting a series then either never finishing it or stringing it out for so long that people need a freaking compass to find their way back to the storyline?

*sigh* Guilty, as charged, your honor(s)…but with explanation…

I posted the previous installment of this series the day of my Father In-Law’s funeral, which in addition to the emotionality such a day would hold on its own, included me delivering his eulogy.

No stress there, right?

I had used the first two parts to this story about my Father In-Law as the subtext from which I would derive his official final tribute. And after that I honestly felt as though I needed to take a step back for awhile. I needed to place a little bit of emotional distance between myself and the event. It was already a much tougher circumstance to deal with than I thought it would be; and even more so for Michelle’s family.

Yep, the emotions at my house had been pretty close to the surface. Funny thing, emotions; just when you think they’re going one way…

Soon after the funeral, something happened that made absolutely no sense and actually left me with little to no motivation to even finish this story. I was so steamed that I wanted to shout it from the mountaintops. Now two months later, I’m really glad that at least one cooler head prevailed (namely, Michelle’s).

To put it mildly, my wife had a falling out with her Mother and only remaining sibling, her younger brother— and we’re talkin’ a top-o’-the-Empire-State-Building kinda falling out here, folks. The two of them basically declared civil war on the two of us. It was been beyond belief how quickly things turned, and for how silly a reason, apparently.

However that’s all I’ve decided to say about it. This is obviously something that’s literally too close to home for me to go into detail about here, although. I may eventually write about it sometime; perhaps when enough time has passed to sufficiently distance the hurt. Needless to say, I was completely disgusted by the way this incident ripped my wife’s family apart at such a fragile and obviously sensitive place in time.

It’s like Festivus…minus the Pole (and the Feats of Strength)
The good news is, after a six-and-a-half week standoff, apologies were delivered and received, and grievances were calmly aired (and all I wanted to do was pin somebody). However now that everyone is once again on speaking terms I’m obviously happy that nobody wants to do anyone bodily harm, and I’m even happier because now I can write about it, and finish up my tribute to a truly special man, for whom I still feel a great deal of respect and admiration, my late Father In-Law, Ed Carpenter.


Next: Ed WHO?