I wrote this on Monday morning while waiting in Edinburgh:
Whew. What a week (well, 10 days). I’m actually more or less where I started this whirlwind week, at least physically. Yep, that’s right, I’m back at the very same Burger King where I’d sat until about 1:30AM last Thursday as I tried to kill time in Edinburgh before my 9AM flight. The only difference is the wi-fi doesn’t seem to be working so I’m writing this now (10:38AM GMT) and probably won’t be posting it till later unless the wi-fi magically decides to work. I always plan for the worst so my train back isn’t until after 1pm so I’ve got some time to kill in Edinburgh. Unfortunately I’ve got my camping pack and another medium sized bag which I don’t want to drag around the city (also, I am too cheap to put the bags in a locker for 4 pounds).
Anyways, yeah. What a week. Brian and my cousin Nghi met me at the airport (Nghi happened to meet me at the airport last time I arrived in NYC from England too, weird!) and we drove home. Even though my parents had initially told me not to come back, worrying about costs, etc. I could tell they were glad to see me. I think it also helped that I found pretty cheap tickets. We hung around the house for a little bit, playing with my cat who now has a very mercurial temper. Then we headed over to Apalachin to pray with the family, eat, and just hang out. After we did the rosary in our own unique family way (one decade in Vietnamese, one decade in English, etc) we all sat and cried, probably for a solid 30 minutes or so.
The next morning we went to the funeral home to pray and just be with my aunt’s (closed) casket. Again, many many many more tears, this time for another hour or so. We made our way to St. Ambrose, where we’ve always gone to celebrate so many occasions and sacraments, for my aunt’s funeral mass. I have almost all good memories in St. Ambrose, with the two exceptions being Uncle Ross’ funeral and my aunt’s, but I suppose in a way, those could be good memories. On this occasion, Father Curry said some really nice words and I think gave my parents, aunts/uncles and us nieces and nephews some comfort. My cousin Hoang had spoken to Father ahead of time and had given him a bit of an idea of how we were feeling so that he could really tailor his homily toward our current emotions. Of course, there were still many tears and this service provided, at least for some of us – myself included, some much needed closure.
After the service we made our way back to the funeral home where we brought my aunt’s body to the crematory. There were still a few tears but at the same time it felt like a great weight had been lifted off of our shoulders. The crematory operator asked if we’d like him to press the start button or if we would like to. My mom said she would, to which he instructed her, “it’s that green button all the way at the top.” Now for those of you who know my mom, you’ll probably understand the awkward moment of silence when everyone in the room had to be thinking “top? Oh crap, she won’t be able to reach it.” And yes, that was a factor – my mom walked over to the button and reached her hand wayyy up high but came up a few inches short. Everyone laughed as my dad had to give her a boost to press the button. The funny part was that my aunt who had passed, Di Ut, was the tallest of my mom’s brothers/sisters (which isn’t saying much) and probably was the only sibling who would’ve been able to reach that green button unassisted. Later, my mom would tell us that as she reached for the button she almost said out loud, “oh sh*t” but then realized where she was. We’re all fairly certain Di Ut was having a good laugh at that moment.
Since we didn’t know what to do afterwards, we did what we always do when we don’t know what else to do – we went to a Chinese buffet. We went back to my house afterwards to pray the rosary again, and eat again, of course. We made plans for the next day – the boys would go to the Syracuse / Nova game and the girls were going bridesmaid/bridal dress shopping with Amanda. Yep, let’s leave it at that. On Saturday morning some of the girls (cough cough) may or may not have been 4 hours late for our desired 9am start time but I was okay with it since I could watch the Manchester United / Birmingham City match on FSC on our unnecessarily large TV. Oh how I have missed that TV. We hung out some more after dress shopping until the boys came home and then we all went to bed relatively early since it’d been a long couple of days.
Sunday the family met at church and then… that’s right, we went to another Chinese buffet. We had a smaller group this time, but family buffet times are always fun. Whenever we go and the waitresses ask us what we want to drink our parents go around the circle and say “hot tea” “hot tea” “hot tea” “hot tea” “hot tea” “hot tea” instead of just asking for a pot of hot tea. We laugh, and then realize we always go around in a circle saying “water” “water” “water” “water” “water” instead of just asking for a pitcher of water. I guess we’re all like our parents sometimes. We all went home for a break from family time and then rendezvoused at my house again to play Matthew’s new board game Puerto Rico as well as to watch some football. It was another early night; all this family time can get tiring.
Monday was pretty tame. Mom, Dad, Brian and I went to dinner at Red Lobster as Brian’s birthday dinner since Dad was scheduled to go to Houston to visit his mom during Brian’s actual birthday. (Dad didn’t actually end up going to Houston since his connecting flight in Philly was cancelled.) Tuesday morning was not fun. I thought I had food poisoning but I think it was just a stomach bug that’s been going around since many of my aunts/cousins had/have since gotten it. That meant that all of Tuesday and a good part of Wednesday were just spent sleeping/being sick and miserable. Bleak times. Catherine was going to come visit on Tuesday but I didn’t think it’d be nice to have her over to watch me be sick, even if she is going to be a doctor. By Wednesday night I was kind of feeling up to activity so Hayley and Carley came over to talk, play Just Dance and to kill virtual bears on the Wii. We always have good times even when there are imminent bears and double bears involved.
Thursday I just hung out with my parents since both were off work. Mom and I went to the mall and mom was of course more or less robbing stores with her coupons used in conjunction with deals. Friday we went shopping again just to get out of the house and then we went over to my cousin’s house to help decorate the house for Vietnamese New Years. We did a little decorating but most of the time we were just watching my baby cousin Tyler be generally adorable.
Saturday, Brian and I went to give blood. For me, it was both a failure and a victory. It was a failure because the nurse bruised my arm putting the needle in and wiggled the massive needle around in my arm for a bit. It was unpleasant and to add to that for some reason she couldn’t get blood to come out. Yep, I failed at bleeding! She gave up after 10-15 minutes since I’d only provided 1/4 pint of blood. However, I still ate 2 bags of cheez its, drank a bottle of water, and got a free pound of dunkin’ donuts coffee for my mom haha. I thought about editing the “I gave blood” sticker to “I tried to give blood” or “I gave a little blood.”
Tet (Viet New Years) was about as tame as it’s ever been, though it was understandable given our previous week. It was still good to be home and with the family though. We enjoyed good food and good company and that’s all we really need for a good night. Sunday we woke up a bit late due to the party the night before, but have no fear, we still made time to go to the Chinese buffet. I was telling my family that I’m always so confused because whenever we go home it seems like we’re eating at buffets yet I still lose weight at home. I’m not really sure what that says about what I eat while I am in England or while I was in school. After brunch, Nghi and Blagoy came over and we headed back down to Newark where I caught my plane and had an entire row to myself until someone came and sat in the aisle seat. Oh well, I still had one empty seat next to me. The flight was quick (less than 6 hours) – I ate dinner (cheese ravioli) while watching Waiting for Superman and then fell asleep listening to Zac Brown Band. When I woke up I watched some really random Animal Planet show on getting your first puppy. Yeah, I know. Random.
Getting through customs was quick, though the officer asked me loads of questions. I guess I’m just a shady character. My sketchiness factor must’ve been multiplied by ten because I was carrying my panda bear with me… my panda, in conjunction with my imposing physique, must’ve freaked him out.
Anyway, I got the airlink back to Edinburgh Waverley, walked around to find myself a hairy coo hat, and now I am back at Burger King. I’ve still got time to kill so now that I’m rested, maybe I’ll walk around a bit. I’m alllllmost home. Just a train ride, a walk, and a bus ride away. Crap, I hope I can find my flat key…
