https://www.whatisepigenetics.com/fundamentals/
I flew home yesterday with a dull ache in my chest - was it grief, exhaustion, or ongoing long Covid pericarditis/myocarditis? Of course my sister‘s death was a cardiac event - she had had dinner with her friends, excused herself early because she was tired - went home, took to her bed and that was all…
The sad thing is that she was dog-sitting my niece’s good Lab mix Coldbrew (they had gone to visit her in-laws) - and you can tell the poor thing was still a little clingy and stressed out.
I’m glad that I went - everyone was very welcoming: after a few puzzled glances, when I identified myself there were “Aha’s” of recognition & many claims of family resemblance once they had a good look at me.
Neither one of my nephews were able to come up from Guatemala, and Christina was bolstered by her husband and close friends. Linda had been cremated, so there was no emotional coffin-side scene there. I shed a few tears but it was more from the sense of what we had missed out on…
Alma (Linda’s mother) died at 84; her brothers at 57 & 62 (!!!). Linda had been happy to hear of the relative longevity on our Lewis side of the family - my dad made it to age 90, Aunt Sue almost 96. I think she shared my Aunt Sue’s hypertension and had been on antidepressant medications for decades. She had the comorbidity of obesity which also runs in our family.
There was a tremendous spread at her friends’ house after the funeral: a charcuterie board, quiches, overflowing baskets of baked goods… I went back for a few sweets, but what I thought was a loaf of something chocolate turned out to be black beans - ha ha, joke's on me! I’m glad I booked a room at the brand-spanking new Holiday Inn express, it was very nice.
There no longer seems to be commercial flights in the US which depart or arrive on time anymore - I flew out Friday night after work (direct flights to Richmond are either early AM or in the evening; midday flights all require connections). There was a 45-min delay of our departure, then we sat waiting for ground crew to get us parked at terminal another 15 min - just long enough that my airport-hotel shuttle was no longer running! To add insult to injury, somebody stole my Uber ride! I was standing there watching the little icon, then I looked up & saw another couple getting into that black Toyota Corolla... They recognized their mistake and double back with apologies in about 1.5 mi, so I didn't get to my hotel until past 1 AM. Bounced up at 7 AM to shuttle back to the airport & get my rental pickup, drove inland to Charlottesville to make it to the funeral with about 15 minutes to spare...
We couldn't have ordered more pleasant & mild late-winter weather, but rain rolled in Saturday night and the windshield of my rental had a thin rim of frost Sunday morning. I went ahead & drove back to Richmond to catch earlier flights since I felt like a dunsel (a superfluous part with no useful purpose). A few more delays, but made it home in time to watch the Superbowl (yeah Chiefs!).
The black bean "loaf"
So glad you could spend this time with your other family and honor your sister's memory. The bean loaf would have fooled me.
ReplyDeleteYep, in my eye it resembled some sort of chocolate-brownie type confection - don't get me wrong, the black bean refritos were good, it just wasn't a dessert item!!! ;-)
DeleteI like black beans and I like chocolate so I would have been okay either way. I have never seen black beans that dark.
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