SHR VIP Garage Gang II Forum For Fans Of Stewart-Haas Racing

Please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers as we head to Vermont for a funeral first thing in the morning. This is going to be a long day and many hours on the road.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you Beav.
Drive safe

thank you...will try, 9 hours round trip for a 1 hour funeral. Glad she is an aunt because there is no way I would do this for a cousin, I don't care who they may be...I am not on the best of terms with any of my cousins. They like to talk behind my back, so there is no love between us....any of us. My brother told one of them at the last funeral that she knew exactly how he felt about some of our cousins. He said, really now, how can that be as we have not spoken in 5 years. How about you just stick to crap you know something about because you know nothing about what goes on north of Massachusetts. Got to love us hicks who live in Maine. We have our set of rules on how treat family.

I hate that for ya, Beav....I know hate ain't a good thing! I'll try to be better.

Its okay...we had some good things as I saw my Dad's brother who is not well and his daughter. His daughter and my wife have the same first name and last name as my wife. They also have the same hair color and are the same height and build. So to call out to one of them was interesting.

I saw another uncle and he asked me when did you arrive and I said 30 seconds ago and he said no, I mean I did not see you last night, so when did you get here and I told him 45 seconds ago. He looks at me strangely and says so what time did you leave to get here and I said, we left at about 6:15am this morning. He looks at me and says you mean you are just arriving and came down this morning. I looked at him and said, now you are catching on.

I saw one of my aunts who I am really close to and is now 90 years old. She saw me and said to her daughter that she wanted to give her favorite nephew a hug. Her daughter said, mom you need to get in this chair. My aunt said, I am going to give your cousin a hug. She said, mom get in this wheel chair now. My aunt said, You shut up, I will get in that chair after I give him a hug. I tried so hard not to laugh.

All things did not go well though. I had one cousin who looked at me and then looked at our car and said, is that really your car or did you have to rent that to get here because I don't think you have that kind of money to afford a car like that. I told him that if he had not spent most of his money on drugs and alcohol over the years he could afford a nice car too. My brother started to laugh and had to walk away. I have a 2016 Chevy Malibu Limited with 2.5 Eco with the turbo charger. There are no options left to get on this car as it has them all, yup it is loaded.

This same cousin also told a very off color story during the service and my brother and I cringed and took him aside. We told him that his story actually led to the separation of our aunt and uncle and almost led to them getting a divorce. Our uncle was told by our aunt that he had to make a choice, it was either her or the alcohol. After 30 days of being separated, he chose her and gave up the alcohol. My cousin said he knew the story and thought it was funny how it all happened and what the last straw was. I said to him that you may find it funny, but nobody else did, none of our cousins or aunts & uncles. My brother asked him how many people he planned to tick off and he said as many as it takes. I told him that if he plans on acting like this in the future and airing family dirty laundry then don't ever bother showing up in the future.

We left to head for home after the service and round trip it took us almost 11 hours, longer than expected. My dad told me we certainly did not miss much. He said there was a lot of backbiting and backstabbing of many who were there. Funny thing though, he said that nobody said a single word about you. Probably a good thing you left when you did is what my father told me when he got home hours after we did.

Like I said, some good and some bad.

Family dynamics.

It was kind of funny watching my cousin Becky meeting my wife for the first time. Becky this is Becky...both are soft spoken, but will speak up when they need to. Both wear glasses and have since they were young, both are redheads, both are the same height, both are the same build...my uncle said, so here is your alter ego. The good Becky and the evil Becky. I think my cousin was a little hurt because of what her dad said. We must all understand that her dad has dementia and says whatever comes to mind even though he does not mean it.

There was a time when he was an environmentalist and I did not know it as my dad did not tell me this slightly important piece of information. He had his own wind turbines and solar panels to power his home. At the time I was entering my 10th year in the petroleum business. Yup, made for an interesting conversation....nope. More like a slightly long argument. My dad never left us alone again after that.

I'm dealing with an Aunt that has dementia. You never know what will come out of her mouth.

Beav, you have knack for relating events and such. I think you may have missed your calling. You should become a writer. I truly enjoy your posts. Your Father and Brother sound like they are as well-balanced as you. Have a wonderful Easter, my friend. And the same goes-out to the rest of the gang! - Alan.

not the first time I have heard that, about being a writer...