CIRCLE WITH A DOT

I don’t want to work because I’m sad because my grandma died.

I have to work for income.

This sucks.

@2003MugishaPhocit oh I’m so sorry

@raven yes my dad and grandma were only 14 years apart!

@sindarina it would also take not living in a one-bedroom apartment because she had a place everyone from out of state could actually stay at

I got to really talk to my oldest (still much-younger) cousin alone in a way I haven't before. They're transmasc non-binary and live in a TINY town in Washington State which I think is hard for a number of reasons (they're a wildlife biologist and love their job but haven't found their people). Wise beyond their years; we have very different versions and memories of grandma because of the 23-year age gap between us but have been having some good conversations about those memories. Not sure if I'll really see them much in person now, which is sad.

My cousins are much younger than me (27 and 24 I think) and they and their parents live out of state so it's strange to think I just maybe won't really see them anymore? I really like them as people but we're so far apart in age that we're not super close. I saw them most thanksgivings and every Christmas and usually in the summer but now there's no central place and nowhere for them to stay.

My grandmother died today. It's been a long time coming but it's still sad.

I'm old to still have had a grandmother, but she was my dad's step-mom; his mom died when he was 9 and his dad married a much younger woman. But we never used the word "step-grandmother," she was my grandma from the day I was born.

She was not quite 39 when I was born, and had a 10-year-old and 13-year-old at home and it's only recently that I've fully realized how strange it must have been to become a grandparent at that stage of life.

But from the moment I was born, she was a dedicated grandmother, even while raising kids of her own.

She was diagnosed with multiple myeloma 5-6 years ago and I thought the end was near then but she just kept going, and until recently, had a really good quality of life. I would pick her up and take her to lunch when I could (she'd always pay) at the Cheesecake Factory, which was her favorite.

She was the matriarch of our small extended family and things will be very different now.

When I was getting Zora, my landlord gave me a list of banned breeds that I could not have (they were the usual)

So explain to me why my new downstairs neighbors have an 80+ pound UNNEUTERED pit bull?