The week from H-E-L-L

On Monday morning, I got to work and the teacher said to me, "I can tell this is going to be one of those days." It wasn't for me, but on Tuesday things really went downhill. Said teacher was at a conference from Tuesday until this afternoon (after school let out). Thank goodness he'll be back tomorrow because our sub obviously had no idea how to work with ED kids. And on Tuesday we had a new kid who I swear is the spawn of Satan. He, however, won't be here for the rest of the week because he was arrested on Tuesday night for disorderly conduct. So I think the combination of a new kid in class and a substitute teacher made the kids really really act up. It was terrible.

Then after I got home from work, my mom called and said that she and my dad were in the neighborhood and were going to stop by our house for a couple of minutes. I thought it was weird since they have no reason to be in our neighborhood, but I didn't inquire. When they walked in the house, I noticed that my mom's eyes were really red. That's when I knew something was wrong. She told me that her sister called her a little while ago and said that my cousin had had a heart attack. I was relieved when I heard that because I thought "Oh good, nobody died." My cousin is 32, a heart attack is horrible and a total shock, but not deadly for him. No way. So my first question was "Is he ok?" My mom started crying and my dad told me that he had died. WHAT?!?!?! No. That can't happen. He's too young. I'm shocked.

He was only two years older than my husband. I still have my doubts that it was a heart attack. That is so rare, although I know it does happen. He wasn't even overweight. I'll wait to draw my conclusions until the autopsy results come back, but I'm thinking that it was either an aneurysm or he had some sort of underlying heart condition that had gone undetected.

The rest of the week has been kind of a blur. Yesterday my aunt called me to ask if I'd sing at the funeral. I said yes, of course. There is no way I could have said no. My cousin was a mechanic and he always fixed my car for little or no cost. And my aunt always came to my recitals and musicals to hear me sing. I am so happy that I get to do this honor for them both. I am super nervous though. I haven't sang publicly in over 5 years! And I just know I'm going to choke up, but I don't think anyone will blame me if I do. I hope I can get through it. The funeral is on Monday, so I have all weekend to learn the songs.

This weekend can't come soon enough.