This stuff is always so fascinating. Alex used to collect MtG cards, we need to go through them someday.

Oh yes. Wrecked by Dion’s demands.

Thanks. It was supposed to be the most basic routine thing.

Oh no.

I think sometimes they forget I’m 40 and a world traveler who’s been handling everything for two decades. I could get myself out of a conflict zone if I had to. Navigating DC alone—a place I lived for 18 years—is easy.

It was just a lot all at once. And bless them, but Alex’s parents want to be overly helpful which made it worse. I offered immediately to just handle everything myself, but they still insisted on getting me from the airport, which complicated things more.

We’re all very pragmatic people, including her. So she requested no funeral, to be cremated and her ashes combined her with her late husband’s, and their two ragdoll cats to then be scattered in several spots by her daughters.

Baldwin liked lying in bed with her when he was younger. She loved cats.

It’s just been a weird couple of days. I’m home now, but all I wanted to do was get some botox and filler and fly home, and it turned into this.

She was 90, she’s at peace now, we’re all relieved, she was loved, but sometimes people need to just stop living so those left can have their lives back.

It’s just been a dreadful sort of existence for her and my in laws for the last several years.

Alex has long joked we’re harbingers but he’s now calling me Death because she should have passed years ago, and the one time I visit without him there, she passes.

It’s been really sad and I’m a huge proponent of the right to die ideology b/c things were bad. She was cruel at her worst moments, and we’d stopped even visiting during holidays b/c of it—I started hosting at our house, then going out to dinner.

I called his mom, booked a later flight out the next day so I could stop by and see them instead of flying out at noon as planned.

The vibe was relief and a bit celebratory. Like, yes, this woman was loved, but the last few years were bad, and this year was an awful decline.

Texted Alex to see what was going on, to update him on what I was doing, said I was going to get a glass of champagne at the hotel bar. I left the bar a little after midnight, changed for bed, and then checked my phone. She passed sometime before midnight.

Get to my injector, then head back to the hotel to take a 45 minute nap, showered, changed, went into DC for dinner at our favourite spot all the while checking in on what was going on. I got back around 10 PM & was unable to rest b/c I was now fully awake and on about 32 hours of no sleep.

A room at the Pentagon Ritz later, I had nothing but some yoga wear, sneakers, and pajamas, so I bought myself some basic heels to pair with the black catsuit I’d had the foresight to bring. I’d had no sleep at this point for over 24 hours due to the cats not letting me sleep the night before.

My MIL’s sisters were coming down because she was going into hospice care, and I opted to book a hotel—my original plan but they’d insisted weeks ago I stay at their house. Except, I didn’t realize it was the tree lighting, and all the hotels were booked or 5X the usual rate.

I’m still in DC right now. I moved my flight back to 7:45.

I am. Thanks. I’ll go into more detail later. But it’s been a time.