As I type this, my grandmother is circling the drain and we’re making arrangements for the inevitable. However, this is setting off some anxiety and dread on my part since our clan is a soap opera screenwriter’s wet dream. Uncles and aunts don’t get along. Cousins have beef with each other. As for me, other than a U.S. based uncle and aunt along with their kids that I can’t stand, I pretty much get along with everyone else.

Our beef started when I fought for my mom’s legal rights when my dad died. He bigamously remarried and the vultures in my family decided they will decide what to do with his estate. I didn’t take this lying down and viciously fought them tooth and nail. While lawyers weren’t involved, I ultimately won and my mother took nearly everything. So some uncles and an aunt who don’t know shit about the law painted me to be a money hungry vulture since they demanded a huge chunk of my dad’s money for my grandmother’s care. I reasoned that my grandmother still has nine children, they should all pitch in to financially provide for her instead of running after what a legal wife deserves. To be direct about it, my mother is a very kindhearted woman. All they had to do was ask instead of demand and she would have given it without batting an eyelash. Instead, she felt disrespected and decided to give nothing.

While we have already resolved our differences (except for the kabit and her kids with whom I have no plans of speaking), I have an uncle and aunt who still have in for me. I don’t really care but I wouldn’t allow them to take advantage of a solemn situation like a wake to stir shit up.

Some relatives are begging me to not skip the cremation but I have already made up my mind. It would hurt me to not see my grandmother off but I don’t think it’s worth it if I’ll be dealing with relatives na akala mo kung sinong magagaling como nakarating lang ng Amerika.