Bad luck stinks. And my family's been experiencing a lot of it. My grandma calls it the Tewsley luck. (I'll give you a hint 2 certain people in this class know how crazy my grandma can be but she's not kidding here.) Now let me give you a brief story. First my great grandma Beatrice dies. Then bye-bye grandpa. Then we say good-bye to a close friend of the family, a great aunt, 2 cousins, another friend or two, and so on. It all happened in the past 8 years and that's just the deaths. But, 2011and 2012 have been especially hard. This summer Borders Book Store where my parents met closed. My mom had no longer worked there, but for my dad he has held a position for almost 18 years! It was devastating. In November my grandma was diagnosed with throat cancer. It's something called life. It just goes that way. I guess what I'm trying to say is that my family's having some hard times but we have ways to get through it. Letting it go, making a joke and laughing, and wiping our slate clean.
One way we get trough it is by letting it go. When Borders closed all I had to do was to let it go and it helped.
When my grandpa died an organization called Hospice helped me let it go by coming to my house. They gave me lessons on letting it go and it made me feel a lot better.
One time they came in carrying a large bag filled with arts and crafts and plopped it down on the living room floor.
“How about we make something that reminds you of your grandpa.” said the Hospice worker.
I rummaged through the bag and pulled out a brown shoebox, tape, paper, scissors and markers. I drew a door and windows and asked if someone could cut them out. I began to work and after about 20 minutes I had a mini model of my grandparents apartment. Proud of myself, I admired the crayola marker drawing of him, my grandma, me and something I think now is their dog. To this day I have a who-knows-how-long-its-been-around shoebox up in my closet. It really helped me let it go.
We let it go when my grandpa died, we let it go when Borders closed, we let it go when my grandma was diagnosed with throat cancer. We let a lot of things go, but not completely.
Another way we get through it is by making a joke and/or laughing.
One time my grandma, mom and I were at Big Boys. My grandma and I were on one side of the table and my mom sat straight across from her. Here's a tip for the part of the story I'm about to tell and it is my grandma has a hard time swallowing because of her cancer and if she doesn’t think about it her food ends up all over the place. Okay, so the waitress comes with our food I got a grilled cheese my mom got a sandwich and my grandma got soup. We thank the waitress and as soon as she leaves my grandma picks up her spoon dips it in the soup, pulls it out and halfway up to her mouth she stops. Mid air, right there. She puts it back in her bowl and says quietly to my mom. 'Lovely daughter-in-law I hate to say this but I have to think about swallowing you know that right?” My mom nods “Yeah your siting right in the firing zone." My mom lurched over to the other side of the booth and began to laugh. Not long after my grandma's first slow bite of soup she turns to me. And told me “You know I might turn around.” I took me a while to realize what she meant but I said “Oh so no ones safe?” She nodded.
We love to laugh!
We laughed when I broke my leg going down the slide. We laughed when we saw my grandma's mask for her radiation. We laughed when my uncle's car was backed into. It makes hard times easier.
The last way we get through it is by wiping our slate clean. My dad's going for a job (because he's jobless) that is something he would like to do but not the exact same job as a history book buyer for Borders. Whether behind the counter ringing people up, stocking and re-stocking shelfs or in his cubical typing away on a computer.
One time this year, the day I found out my grandma cancer, I was so upset. After the talk, I went up to my room and didn't care to open the door which led down the hall and to the steps going downstairs. I'd like to be in the attic right now. I thought and then I had an idea. I ran into my closet pulled out my small dry erase board and an Expo marker. I sat on the floor and wrote all the basic bad things that had happened to my family and I experienced. Sticking to the basic I filled up the board and with one quick move of the had it was gone. Well that made me feel good. I thought smiling. Proud of myself I ventured downstairs and I had literally wiped my slate clean.
One time when we wiped our slate clean was when we picked up pieces of my dad's car that had been smashed into, planted flowers at my grandpa's grave and when I literally wiped my slate clean.
I realize that when people say, "I'm sorry your grandma has cancer" or "Sorry life’s hard," I still feel pinches of sadness even with that, ways that make it better it doesn't work completely, so don't go home and try it and you’re still sad and the next day you come to me and say “You promised it would work!” because it doesn’t work completely! Oh well. Tough luck. Everybody has it once in a while. But in my family right along with Borders in our blood the Tewsley luck has joined the party. So pretty much what I’m trying to say is that my family and me I are having some hard times but we have ways to get through it.
1. Let it go
2. Tell a joke and laugh
3. wiping our slate clean.
