Chapter 70: The Worst Week of My Life

So endeth the biggest trainwreck of a week ever. That was rough. So at last post, I had started off the week with two canceled flights, my Grandma's death, and 9 lonely hours in an airport in D.C.

From there it was traveling to Toledo, only to get on the turnpike without my wallet. At the service plaza I managed to scrounge up enough change to get me off the turnpike in Toledo, but I didn't have enough gas. So I got off at the next exit and got back on for the return to Akron. Once I got home I grabbed my wallet, I made myself some lunch, and then headed back for Take 2.

Once I got to Toledo I scrounged up the things I needed in Akron, and then went to BG to visit with Meggie and have dinner. It was great to FINALLY see her. I returned to Toledo for sleep, and the next day I woke up, chilled with my new Star Trek blu-ray, and then went to BG to pick up Megan. We had dinner, then headed back to Toledo AGAIN to get my car. Megan drove my mom's car home, while I drove my car...to get it fixed AGAIN at Coles.

In hindsight I'm glad I didn't just wait it out and get it fixed in Toledo, because the problem was caused by the guys at Coles, and they fixed it free of charge. good to know that even though they are on the expensive side there, they are actually honest. Not just getting shafted. So that was one of the few good elements of the week.

While I was driving back and forth from Akron, Toledo, and Bowling Green...the rest of my family was busy both getting things ready to move out of my Grandma's house, while simultaneously trying to fix up the house they bought for her and my Aunt Linda. Linda still needs to live there, so they had to get the water running, and it was an uphill battle. Everyone was really tired and busy all week. And Linda's dog was in our house...yikes.

Thursday was the calling hours. It was rough looking at Myron, my Grandma's companion or boyfriend or whatever you'd call their relationship. They were to old for boyfriend/girlfriend, but they weren't married. At any rate, it was tough to see him, he just looked really really sad. Linda did a helluva job putting together a slide show for the calling hours, and in the amount of time she had, it really looked pretty good, even if I couldn't stand the song.

Friday morning was the funeral. My brothers, cousins, someone I didn't know, and myself were the pallbearers. That was new, but I suspected as much. I kind of thought it would be my two cousins, my dad and Uncle Tom, and Curt and myself...leaving Ethan out. But it all worked out nicely. After the funeral we ventured to Grandma's house, to choose mementos. I found that to be difficult. The only things I found myself interested in were early photos of my Grandma and Jim...my grandpa. I never met him, my dad, aunt, and uncle hardly did. He died when my dad was only 6, and he was the oldest.

So Jim Scheck is this kind of mystery to me, and my whole life I've seen only one picture of him. Then there are these photo albums, filled with pictures of him, my grandma, my dad's uncle Mel who married my Grandma after Jim passed away...before dying young himself, it just kinda fascinated me. He was real. He lived, however briefly (only 30), he lived...and he isn't just this one still photograph in which I see nothing but a resemblance to my cousin Christopher and my brother Curt.

Also photos of my dad as a baby...and how much he really looked like my brother Ethan, before my dad thinned up and got big old teeth. Ethan always stayed kinda beefy. I never saw the resemblance before.

Anyhow I found it hard to find some memento, it was far easier to find things and my other grandparents house. It was older, and they had lived there for most of my aunts and uncles lives. They were raised there. And my grandparents lived and died there. And while my grandma basically lived in the same place my whole life, we only really went there every third Christmas Eve. On the other side we went there every Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter. It was THE place. So we spent more time there, and they had a lot more things in that house, it was bigger. They had ugly things, like funny ugly things. I got a Mrs. Buttersworth bottle to inspire a song, me and curt each got these ugly canon bookends. We got some other little things as well. Grandma just had old lady nick-knacks. It makes things harder. None of it screamed Grandma! to me. Things like that just made me go "that's nice...I don't want it."

I ultimately grabbed a copy of Treasure Island, one of my favorite books, some binoculars(my real memento), and some computer speakers. I just liked the computer speakers better than my current computer speakers. Megan however got a pretty neat old Singer sewing machine.

Saturday came the straw that broke the camel's back. I texted Brett for a time to shoot this interview I asked him a while ago to help me with. He had agreed, and I was meant to shoot it this past week, but things were, of course, screwed up. So I got an extension and asked Brett when would be good for him, and he told me to find someone else. I thought he couldn't be serious, and pleaded with him to reconsider. He told me it was "2 retartet" and to get Carrie (mutual friend and UTTV President) or someone. I've helped that asshole with any project he's asked me too, given him loads of rides to Kroger, and recently gave up a night with Megan...for both of us to spend 5 hours shooting his ridiculous (and might I add for more retarded) project. I thought the least he could do is sit down for a small project of mine for an hour or so. But no dice, he stopped responding to me. And when I cursed him in my Facebook status, he removed me from his friends list. He's cracked.

I told him he can not use any of the footage Meggie and I shot that night. I will Tammy, who will be in charge of the Honors Thesis he is working on it for, that I have refused permission...whether that will mean anything or not I don't know. But I feel like he took advantage of me and Megan's time...and our friendship...so that he could do his project and not even help me when he long past agreed to. I helped him when he asked me the day of.

So I panicked a bit, the thought of this project going askew in the last minute, and scrambling to find replacement ideas when I was already behind...with the build up of a weeks worth of stress and emotion, caused me to panic and cry. I just didn't know how else to handle it at that moment. My mood would remain poor for a little while longer.

Luckily Carrie has agreed to help me last minute, and as long as the equipment isn't checked out for tomorrow night, I shall get it all shot, ready for an edit. Thank you Carrie...for helping me when I needed it.

So...here's to a new week. A week that has the quality of "not sucking".

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